BOYS' BASKETBALL: WCDS survives Wayne Christian, 67-60

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on January 28, 2017 11:11 PM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

Wayne Country Day is the top dog in the Coastal Plains Independent 1-A Conference, and that moniker provides an enormous target on its back.

For the better part of Friday night's game, Wayne Christian kept nailing bullseyes, whether it was deep 3-pointers, drives to the basket or pick-pocketing on defense.

But the Chargers are in first place for a reason. So when the hardships kept piling up, Jimmie Sanders and Jamal King finally decided to snap all of the Eagles' arrows across their knees.

The duo combined for 28 points in the second half, and effectively willed the Chargers to a hotly contested 67-60 victory over the Eagles.

"I don't think we played to our caliber," WCDS head coach David Flowers said. "But you knew coming in that it was going to be a rivalry game. They're a mile down the road, and these guys want to beat us. I told the guys, 'They're going to come in ready to play.'"

The Chargers were out of sorts in the first quarter and turned the ball over eight times. Preying on every opportunity given to them, the Eagles snatched a 12-11 lead after the first stanza.

And at halftime, WC clung to a 29-28 advantage.

"Nonchalant," said Flowers, describing the first half. "We just went through the motions. We played like we weren't going to lose instead of playing like, 'Let's play to win this thing! Let's go out here and play to everything we've got, and play to our level.'"

In the third quarter, it was Sanders who answered the call. The junior floor general opened the quarter with a deep 3-pointer from the left elbow. On the next possession, he drove to the basket and drew a foul. By the end of the third stanza, Sanders had racked up 11 points.

It was King's turn in the fourth quarter. When WC tied the game at 60-all, the highly-recruited sophomore nailed a smooth mid-range jumper to give WCDS the lead with 1:15 remaining.

That shot proved to be the game-winner and the end of WC's threat.

"We came out real flat (in the third quarter)," said WC head coach Victor Young. "My guys are just coming back. I had a bunch of guys out for the last few weeks, so it took them a half to get into the swing of things. But they came around. I'm proud of what I saw tonight."

King scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Sanders recorded 19 points. The Eagles were led by DJ Waters and Martaye Sembly, who scored 22 and 19 points, respectively.

Flowers thought his team answered well after he challenged them at halftime.

The veteran coach also appreciates these close games, and believes the experience will prove significant as the team reaches the end of the season.