Justin Nixon’s double-double leads Wildcats

MINSTER — A dominating 29-point, 23-rebound performance by senior forward Justin Nixon, including two dunks, propelled the Wildcats to a 51-39 Midwest Athletic Conference opening win over Versailles at home on Friday night.

Nixon now has double-doubles in both of Minster’s games this season.

Multiple Wildcat (2- 0, 1- 0) turnovers and a deep 3-pointer by Tigers (0-2, 0-1) junior guard Jayden Litten put them up 7- 0, prompting an early Wildcat timeout. He would lead the Tigers as the only double-digit scorer with 15 points

“That’s our biggest weakness right now, us turning the ball over,” said Wildcat head coach Mike McClurg after the game. “Were playing way too fast. I think it’s just a matter of time, practice it right and get it right against heavy pressure.”

The Wildcats would settle in after that timeout, outscoring the Tigers 9-4 for the rest of the quarter as the Tigers held an 11-9 lead after one.

Wildcat junior forward Johnny Nixon scored the Wildcats first bucket with just over five minutes in the first quarter on an offensive rebound and putback. He finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“Johnny’s doing really nice filling (graduated senior Trent Roetgerman’s) void on the rebounding side,” said McClurg. “Johnny Is able to make shots close to the rim, he’s a scorer. He sits down and defends, he’s long.

Both sides of the ball for the Wildcats continued to improve as the game wore on. In the second quarter, they outscored the Tigers 11-5 to take a 20-16 halftime lead.

A 6-0 run to start the second prompted a Tigers timeout and later in the quarter Justin Nixon had a dunk in transition off the feed and steal from senior guard Josh Niekamp and an offensive rebound and putback on their next passion to round off their first half scoring.

At halftime, McClurg said they talked about being more assertive offensively, finding ways to get to the rim.

“I thought we forced some shots that we didn’t need to take in the first half,” said McClurg. “As the game wore on, our offensive shot selection got better; it’s easier when someone puts up 29 points.”

Of the 17 Wildcat points scored in the third quarter, Justin Nixon had 11 of them as he had an answer every time the Tigers looked to make a push.

An 8-4 Wildcat run to start the third, including four in a row from Johnny Nixon, forced the Tigers into calling a timeout with 5:26 in the third quarter, trailing 28-20.

After back-to-back Tigers buckets, Justin Nixon pulled down one of his 10 offensive rebounds and put it back to stretch their lead back to 33-25.

A layup from Tiger guard Eli McEldowney cut the Wildcat lead to 37-30 to end the third quarter.

The Tigers tried to foul to get back in the game in the fourth quarter but the Wildcats went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the last three or so minutes to seal the game.

Behind Justin and Johnny, Minster senior guard Eric Schmidt added 10 points.