Wicomico Wins A Close One

Wicomico High School,

North Caroline’s Shawn Blackwell opened up the game with a two piece and a biscuit followed by an Indian 3 from Brennan Gross to pop open a fast paced first quarter in the 2A State Quarterfinal Tuesday night. Wi-Hi took a 7-3 lead at the 6:11 mark. Both teams were tenacious on the offensive glass and in having their hands in all the passing lanes causing broken plays, turnovers, and riffs of chasing down the loose ball. Midway through the first Gross had a nice scoop to the hoop to help extend Wi-Hi’s lead but North Caroline Fought back to tie the game at 16 with a three from North Caroline’s Vernon Wilson. The tie was short lived after DeAngelo Gie came right back with a three of his own and the three point lead was preserved by Gavin Dennis and Gie blocking a last second shot ending with a 19-16 Indian lead.

The second quarter started sloppy with turnovers and rimmed out but after a flurry of made shots the game was tied at 23 by a Denis Herbert duce. Wilson had a chance to take the lead for the Bulldogs but his strong put back got stuck in between the rim and backboard for a dead ball whistle and possession to the Indians. Wi-Hi looked to take over the game with a big lead but Herbert scored 5 points with a three at the end of the half to bring North Caroline to 34-30 Wi-Hi.. Both teams played like they wanted to survive.

DeAngelo Gie opened up the third frame with a powerful block and then followed up with a steal off of a Bulldog defensive rebound for 2 to extend the lead. Devon Gate and Gie gave the Indians a trey each to extend the lead to 11 points at the 5:11 mark. North Caroline once again came roaring back with 6 points from Vernon Wilson and three point goals from Terae Wanne and Herbert to get the deficit to 3 points. Gie once again came up big with a late score to put the tally in favor of the Indians 49-44.

Herbert scored early to bring the Bulldogs once again to three points. Both teams once again traded baskets but foul trouble caught up to North Caroline and Devon Gate made 5/6 free throws to extend the lead at 2:49 to 58-50 after North Caroline’s Terae Wanne fouled out. The Bulldogs were not to be put to the pound quite yet after Vernon Wilson came back with 2 point score and then on the subsequent Indian possession caused a 5 second call to bring the ball back. The momentum was short lived because Gavin Dennis blocked a shot on the Bulldog’s possession. Baskets by Karon Bell and Jermaine Ringold with Wi-Hi’s Gate missing the 1 and 1 brought North Caroline to being down 4 with 50 seconds remaining; 60 to 56. Once again Gie stepped up and led the Indians to hold on and win the game by a final score of 63-56.

Game notes

The Bulldogs never regained the lead after the first seconds of the game though they did tie it. Questionable calls by the referees at the end of the game added to the controversy. The referees called a charge on a Bulldog and on the inbounds play Wi-Hi had a player jump out of bounds to take a pass from the original inbounding player. No basket was scored on the previous play and the Bulldogs coach called out the refs by saying that inbounding player had to be still and could only pass to the floor.

The game, though close, had lots of loose balls and turnovers in spurts. Wicomico’s Coach Butch Waller said “It was an ugly game and that’s seems to be how we play. We had problems scoring inside.” North Caroline only 4 deep on the bench played like a top 2 seed tonight. Both teams played hard, aggressive, and was not afraid to abuse their bodies to try to secure the win. “North Caroline played lights out” Coach Waller said. “They hit every open shot and we were fortunate to hang on.” Congratulations to both teams who gave a great game and showed what it meant to play how your supposed to play.

Wicomico, the #1 seed, will be in action this Thursday against the winner of Rising Sun vs. Queen Anne at Wicomico High School. Good luck Indians and come out and support them!