Central overcomes Westside, Jones’ big night

While Central lost Kentrevious Jones to Westside during the offseason, Chargers head coach Andre Taylor felt strongly that his eight returning seniors would not allow much of a dropoff from last year’s team that made it all the way to the GHSA 3A quarterfinals.

That was more than evident Friday night as the Chargers defeated Westside 79-74 in front of a standing room only crowd at Westside.

Antarius McCoy scored 23 points, while Kylan Hill had 16 to key the win. Justus Williams added 15 for the Chargers.

Four who mattered

McCoy: The four-year starter for Central is known as a 3-point shooter, but he did not hit a 3 in Friday’s game. He did most of his damage inside and got to the free-throw line 17 times, making 11. He added 10 rebounds.

Hill: One of Central’s undersized post players, Hill scored 11 points in the second half and kept his team in the game in the third quarter when the Chargers were struggling to score.

Wanya Thomas: The guard had only one point heading into the fourth quarter, but it was his 3-pointer that gave Central a 72-69 lead with only 1:46 left in the game. Thomas then hit two free throws to up the lead to 74-69, and Westside never threatened again.

Jones: Westside’s big man poured in 33 points and grabbed 17 rebounds against his former team. He went 14-of-20 from the free-throw line.

Turning point

Westside jumped out early and looked ready to open up a big lead. The Seminoles went on a 13-4 run in the middle of the first quarter to open a 22-10 lead, keyed by Khavon Moore, who electrified the crowd when he threw a pass to himself off the backboard and slammed it home, all while being fouled on the play. But Central weathered the storm and cut the Seminoles’ lead to 22-18 by the end of the quarter.

Observations

3-point woes: Westside hit only 3-of-18 3-point attempts.

Hacking Big K: Jones had a monster game but nothing was easy for him. That led to Jones being on the line for a good part of the game.

Also Friday night

The Central girls got 17 points from Tyleia Williams as they defeated Westside 41-38.

They said it

Taylor on surviving the early run: “We have eight seniors, and we had some guys who had a calming effect on our team when they started off so well. I mean it was a large and loud crowd, and it took us a few minutes to get in the flow of the game, but give credit to these kids for continuing to play hard.”

Taylor on the attitude before the game: “A lot of people had already counted us out as a basketball team this year, and the coaches and the players took that to heart. We know that we still have a very good basketball team.”

McCoy on the win: “We were excited to be in a game like this, and we have been working hard to be ready for the season. It was just a fun game to play in.”

Westside head coach Josh Grube on his team’s attitude going in: “This is my ninth year here, and I felt like we did not have the focus we needed heading into this game. I take the blame for that. Sometimes a loss like this will wake up a team, and I think that is what will happen from this loss.”

What’s next?

Central plays Jackson on Tuesday while Westside travels to Kendrick on Tuesday.

This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Central overcomes Westside, Jones’ big night."