WCCA rolls past Central Private

Southern Sports & Travel, By Darron Thomas

After one quarter of play in the semi-final matchup between Central Private and WCCA last night it looked as if both teams would be in for a back and forth battle, but WCCA took a lead midway through the second quarter and never looked back as the Rams advanced to the finals of the District 5-AA Tournament with a convincing 74-51 win.
Lance Wicker’s 3-pointer from the wing with 1:03 left in the first quarter gave Central Private a 13-12 lead they would take into the second quarter.

(Above) Ethan Carruth of WCCA shoots over Jason Young (#23) of Central Private
In the first three minutes of the second quarter the lead changed five times and after Jason Young’s baseline basket put the Rebels on top 18-17 WCCA exploded. Tip McKenzie put the Rams ahead 19-18 on a driving lay-in at the 4:44 mark. McKenzie scored again on an assist from Darius Hunter on the next possession. Luke Whitaker scored in the paint and Hunter added a fast break basket to quickly put WCCA up 25-18 with 3:17 left in the half. The Rams added two more baskets from Trae McKenzie and Darius Hunter for a 29-18 lead before Central Private stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer from Jason Young with 1:34 remaining. WCCA capitalized on long rebounds coming off Central Private 3-point attempts and quickly moved the ball down court. McKenzie bucketed two more transition baskets to give WCCA their biggest lead at 33-21. Matt Wallace of Central Private drained a basket with 13 seconds left in the half to close out the scoring with WCCA up 33-23.

(Above) Matt Wallace of Central Private
WCCA increased their lead to 40-26 following an Ethan Carruth basket in the paint three minutes into the second half. With WCCA up 42-29 the Rams put together an 11-2 run to cap off the third quarter on top 53-31.
Central Private would get no closer than twenty points in the final quarter as WCCA rolled to a 74-51 win to improve to 12-9 on the season.
“We played much better defense and ran the court well tonight,” said WCCA head coach Christopher McGraw.
Tip McKenzie was one of four Rams players to reach double figures in scoring on the night. McKenzie had a game high 25 points, Luke Whitaker added 14, Darius Hunter had 13, Ethan Carruth 12, Matthew McGraw 3 and Trenton Hall, Cal Wilkinson and Trae McKenzie had 2 each.
For Central Private Lance Wicker had 18 points, Trevor Munn added 9, Matt Wallace 8, Conley White and Jason Young had 5 each, Kerry Burns 3, Cody Overstreet 2 and Hunter Martrain 1.

(Above) Darius Hunter of WCCA splits two Central Private defenders
WCCA will take on Centreville today at 6:45 in the title game while Central Private (9-12) faces ACCS in the elimination game at 4:15 pm.

WC...12...21...20...21...74
CP....13...10....8...20...51