Central Rolls Past Hixson In Surprise District 6-AA Romp

The Hixson Wildcats have played a lot of close basketball games this season, but Tuesday's District 6-AA clash at Central wasn't one of them.

The Purple Pounders have been hit hard with season-ending injuries as three key players are out with ACL tears while a fourth suffered a broken leg a few weeks back.

Despite all of that, there are still some talented players on the Central roster and they proved it in their 94-64 romp over the Wildcats on Tuesday as six :Pounders scored in double figures and all nine who dressed scored at least two points.

Hixson hung tough for a while and trailed by just 12-10 following two free throws by Chandler Abbott with 4:41 to go in the opening quarter.

By the time Bravon Morton scored on an inside move with 17 seconds remaining, Central had scored 11 straight points and the Pounders were well on their way to winning for the 13th time in 17 games.

The Pounders opened the second quarter with seven more unanswered points and the difference on got bigger as the Central lead was 20 at the break.  Central's field goal percentage was outstanding as they worked the ball inside against the shorter Wildcats and had 27 layups.

A putback by Robert Hudgins at the end of the third quarter extended Central's lead to 71-47 with one stanza remaining while 14-year-old freshman Brett Abshire helped the Pounders finish on a 7-0 run with five of his 14 points as the final score was also the biggest lead for the victors.

Central coach Rick Rogers certainly wasn't complaining about the way his team played.

"Hixson has been playing well lately and we knew it wouldn't be a cakewalk, but this is a different team than what we started the season with as a result of all the injuries," he began.

"We're trying to create a new identity, but I thought we did a great job tonight.  I'm sure we had more assists than we've had all year and we shot a ton of layups.  When you can do that, you can win a lot of basketball games.

"I think our overall quickness hurt them, but I thought that Terron Hayes and Emmanuel Lane both played well.  And what about Brett Abshire, who is only a 14-year-old freshman, who dressed for his first varsity game and ended up with 14 points," Rogers smiled.

Hixson coach Lawanza Crutcher had a lengthy post-game chat with his team, but he didn't offer any excuses after exiting the Wildcat dressing room.

"We were a little flat tonight and I don't know why because I thought we were ready to play.  We knew that Central would put full-court pressure on us and I felt like we handled that pretty good, but we just weren't patient on offense," he explained.

"Central has an outstanding team and they forced the issue tonight as they completely took us out of our comfort zone.  I know that we're better than that.  We just didn't have the energy we needed and I'll take the blame for that, but I have all the confidence we'll bounce back and play better next time," he added, knowing that the next game will be against Tyner on the road Friday night.

Hayes scored 16 points in the first half and finished with 20 to lead the Purple Pounders while Lane was next with 18.

Abshire chipped in with 14, including four 3s, while Tre Tiller matched his number with 12.  Brian Billingsley and Rodney Benford both finished with 10 points.

Abbott was tops for Hixson with 20 while teammate William Nelson had 11 and Morton 10.  Justice Alameda and Tevarus Weaver were next with nine each.

Central also won the rebounding battle unofficially by a whopping 39-20 margin.  Billingsley had seven while Ryan Montgomery, Tiller and Hudgins all grabbed six each.  Weaver had nine to lead Hixson while Morton snagged five.

CENTRAL GIRLS 44, HIXSON 19: The score was tied at 7-7 when the first quarter ended, but these two teams went in opposite directions in the final three quarters as the Lady Pounders enjoyed a 37-12 advantage in the final 24 minutes.

Sandrea Sylman again led the way for Central with 16 points, including 14 in the second half.  She also grabbed eight rebounds.

Teammate Rebekah Hill was next with eight points, six rebounds and six steals.

Jada Johnson was tops for Hixson with six points.

The Central girls are now 11-4 overall and 9-1 in District 6-AA.

GIRLS SUMMARY

HIXSON  7  5  4  3  --  19

CENTRAL  7  11  17  9  --  44

HIXSON (19) -- White 1, Staten 4, Stanfield, Johnson 6, Dortch 2, Swafford 2, Yates, Jett 4.

CENTRAL (44) -- Hixson 2, Ransom 1, Davis 6, Miller, Sylman 16, Denton 5, Kelly 4, Feist 2, Hill 8.

3-POINT GOALS: Hixson none; Central 1 (Hill).

BOYS SUMMARY

HIXSON  12  14  21  17  --  64

CENTRAL  23  23  25  23  --  94

HIXSON (64) -- Alameda 9, Nelson 11, Abbott 20, Weaver 9, Morton 10, Moore 3, Bradley 2, Buckner.

CENTRAL (94) -- Tiller 12, Billingsley 10, Hayes 20, Montgomery 2, Benford 10, Swafford 4, Lane 18, Abshire 14, Hudgins 4.

3-POINT GOALS: Hixson 5 (Alameda 3, Nelson, Abbott); Central 5 (Abshire 4, Benford).

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)