Home Sweet Home For Maroon Knights
Wheeling Central rolls past Cameron in home opener
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WHEELING -- There is no place like home.
For Wheeling Central, however, it took nine games to finally be able to play on its home boards. The Maroon Knights made the most of their friendly confines, disposing of scrappy Cameron, 75-59, on Coach Skip Prosser Court Tuesday.
Coach Mel Stephens' charges, rated No. 1 in the latest AP Class A poll, improved to 7-2 on the season. They were coming off a loss to powerful Butler in the Cancer Research Classic.
Cameron, meanwhile, evened at 4-4, all four losses coming to state-ranked teams. Coach Tom Hart's charges played with hustle and passion until the final horn.
"It was a little different playing at home even though we really didn't have to go very far in our road games," Stephens said. "Other than Fairmont, we played at Jesuit, OUE and in the CRC, but it was nice to get back here for a game."
Although the Maroon Knights led from wire-to-wire, Stephens wasn't overly pleased with his team's performance.
"I wasn't really happy with how we played (Tuesday). When we did what we needed to do, we played well," Stephens said. "At times, we got a little bit out of sync. Sometimes on the offensive end we forced shots we didn't really need to take. We need to get better in that area.
"Defensively, we must get better. We just can't let guys pound the ball to the paint or go up and under on us. But all those things are fixable. It was nice getting a win after the CRC game.
Central got out of the gates quickly thanks to Ryan Reasbeck. The sweet-shooting sophomore drained treys on the Knights' first two trips down the floor, en route to his 14-point first-quarter in helping the hosts move to a 21-14 lead at the break.
Cameron subsequently went cold in the second frame, netting just six points. The Maroon Knights, meanwhile, used five points each from versatile J.C. Maxwell and Clayton Abate to stretch their advantage to 35-20 at halftime.
Central received scoring from five different players in the third quarter in upping their margin to 52-34 entering the final eight minutes. The fourth frame proved an offensive shootout with the Dragons putting 25 points on the board, two more than Central.
"They are the No. 1 team in the state and will be in the hunt for a state championship. So we like to come to places like this and play in this environment. Our kids want to play teams like this," Hart said. "We have four losses to the No. 1, No. 2, No. 6 and No. 9 teams in the state. Their combined record is something like 27-3. That competition will make us better.
"We took one on the chin at Williamstown Saturday, but we responded really well here. We still had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes. I give Mel and his team a lot of credit. They always play great defense. But we had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes. We missed a lot of foul shots in the first half and missed some bunnies inside. We actually competed for four quarters tonight which we haven't really done all year. I was glad to see that, but we still have to work to get better. We've got to get back to work tomorrow (today)."
Central exhibited ideal offensive balance. Four Maroon Knights scored in double figures with seven players denting the scoring column.
Reasbeck led the way with 20 points while Jalen Creighton was his top support with 18 counters. Maxwell's fine floor play resulted in 15 points while Abate netted 10 tallies.
Zane Clutter was exceptional in defeat. The Dragons' senior guard topped all scorers with 21 lightings, displaying a sharp outside shooting touch to go with tons of hustle.
Noah Neely was quality support with 16 points while Garrett Scott chipped in with nine tallies.
Both teams ended with 14 turnovers.
Cameron looks to get back into the win column Friday when it visits Bridgeport. Wheeling Central, meanwhile, has two challenging home tests looming. Charleston Catholic visits Friday while Linsly comes calling Saturday.
"Cameron plays hard and has some guys that can really shoot it. I told our guys coming in that you can't always look at records. Tonight we played a sectional opponent so there is a little more importance to it," Stephens said. "Now we got two tough ones coming up this weekend. I scouted Charleston Catholic and they are really good and Linsly will always be a battle."