Sports

Wheeler Loses Tournament Opener

Playing without two starters, the Wildcats fall to Kinston, 59-51, and face an elimination game Thursday morning.

played without starters Derrick Evans and Justin Seymour and dropped its opening game Wednesday in the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational, 59-51 to Kinston (NC).

Freshman Kejuan Johnson returned from a suspension to lead the Wildcats with 20 points and nine rebounds, and senior Chuck Mitchell added 17 points and 13 rebounds in the game in Raleigh, NC, according to HighSchoolOT.com.

But no one else scored more than Jacob Obande’s six first-half points.

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“We weren’t in our right mind-set to come out here and play today,” Johnson said during the post-game press conference.

Mitchell said Kinston’s quickness gave the Wildcats problems, which isn’t a surprise because they were playing without their two primary ball handlers.

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HighSchoolOT.com’s game blog shows that the Wildcats trailed for all but a few minutes in the second quarter and missed several inside shots in the first half.

“I don’t think we executed to the best of our ability,” Coach Doug Lipscomb said. “I’d just like to see how many layups we actually missed.”

Led by Johnson’s hot hand, the Wildcats hit 67 percent of their two-point shots in the second half, according to the attached box score, but they were shut out on three-pointers for the game and missed eight of 13 foul shots.

David Lipscomb, who had some key baskets in to Georgia’s top-ranked AAAAA team, , Dec. 17, missed all eight shots against Kinston.

Talented sophomore forward Elijah Staley, who fouled out against Shiloh, had as many fouls as points against Kinston, four each.

We’re still a long way from knowing how good this Wheeler team can be because the Wildcats have rarely played at full strength.

Mitchell missed the season-opening tournament in Texas. Johnson missed the Shiloh game because he got two technical fouls in a win over . And now Evans and Seymour missed the Kinston game.

Seymour’s Twitter account indicated he was home in Smyrna while the Wildcats were playing.

“I’m playing at least three freshmen and one sophomore,” Coach Lipscomb said, citing a reason for optimism. “That’s still not an excuse for losing.”

Wheeler will play an elimination game at 11 a.m. Thursday against Strake Jesuit of Texas, which lost to Garner, 76-63. The Wildcats need a win to avoid matching in the same tournament last year.

You can watch highlights of the Wheeler-Kinston game here.


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