WCDS get out gate early, roll over Wilson Christian

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 11, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Wayne Country Day grabbed the opening tip-off and threw a lob toward the basket.

The dunk clanged off the iron, but more importantly it settled down a team that returned just two starters -- Tony Towsend and Jamal Forde -- who helped the Chargers advance to the N.C. High School Athletic Association elite eight a year ago.

"First-game jitters, the worst thing to do is sit in a zone ... starting slow, it never gets out of your system so I wanted to get out and run, get everything out of it and then we're OK," WCDS head coach David Flowers said. "That's why we took the lob the first play of the game."

From that point, Flowers' team looked like a bunch of thoroughbreds and their athleticism undoubtedly overshadowed Wilson Christian in a 89-50, season-opening romp.

DJ Waters and newcomer Jamal King pumped in 19 points apiece for WCDS, which started the game with a monstrous 25-0 run.

"Any team you do that on, that's tough (come back)," Flowers said. "Wilson's got good shooters. I was pleased with us, but we've got a long ways to go."

WCDS built a 10-0 lead less that four minutes into the game, which forced Wilson Christian (1-1 overall) to burn its first timeout. The Chargers pushed their advantage to 25-0 before Wilson connected on its first field goal -- a 3-pointer by Jared Burrell off of Landin Boykin's assist with 2 minutes left in the opening quarter.

King and Waters combined for 16 points, including eight on offensive putbacks, for WCDS in the first quarter. King was two rebounds shy of his first career varsity double-double.

WCDS led 56-31 at halftime and induced the running clock (a 40-point lead) with less than 30 seconds remaining in the third period. Flowers and Wilson Christian's coaching staff gave their respective reserves considerable playing time in the final eight minutes.

Justin Lofton-Russe and part-time returning starter PJ Hill collected 13 and 11 points, respectively, for WCDS. Flowers' team connected on 36 field goals, snared 47 rebounds and picked Wilson Christian for 15 steals.

"They called themselves dogs in the locker room and that's what they played like," a grinning Flowers said. "They played hard. They know they're going to play games where they're over-sized, but they don't care. They share the ball, they defended -- get in your face.

"It was fun to watch, it really was."

Wilson Christian converted 12 3-pointers in the game -- six by Drew Coleman (game-high 20 points), four by Burrell and two by Boykin. Burrell and Boykin knocked down 14 points apiece.