Gordon Central boys, girls get the sweep
♦ Unity Christian falls to the Warriors after leading at the half in the non-region contest.
The Unity Christian boys came out and performed well in the first half to take a lead into the locker room, but Gordon Central made adjustments and the Lions weren’t able to answer as they suffered a 62-50 home loss on Monday night.
Unity Christian (0-2) got out to a strong start in Monday’s game led by an impressive first half by Austin Wilkerson as the home team built a 29-24 advantage at halftime against the visiting Warriors.
However, over the final two quarters, Gordon Central made it a point of emphasis to take Wilkerson away offensively, and the Lions couldn’t string together enough offense elsewhere to maintain the lead.
Gordon Central (2-1) put together a 13-0 run early in the third quarter to swing the game in their favor and take a 37-31 lead.
After they led 41-37 going to the fourth, they essentially sealed the win with a 10-0 spurt midway through the final period to push their advantage to 15, and Unity Christian was never able to get back within 10 down the stretch.
“Hats off to (Gordon Central). They focused on stopping Austin in the second half, and we struggled to find a rhythm and other guys to score enough to stay in the game,” said Unity Christian head coach Matt Claytor. “We’re still early in the season and really just getting the football guys back with the team so we’re trying to figure out what we can do and who can contribute right now.”
Wilkerson led the Lions with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, but he was held scoreless in the second half as the Warriors’ defense made it very tough on him to get any open space for a good look at the basket after a strong first two quarters.
Johnny Whitley also had a strong night scoring with 14 points for Unity Christian, including four 3s of his own. Bailey Mohler added seven points.
Gordon Central was led by a trio of double-digit scorers, including Scott James who tallied 17 points. He scored seven in the fourth quarter and went 5-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to help seal the win.
Also having good nights for the Warriors were Blake Broome with 15 points and Mac McDaniel with 13, including three 3s. Walker Angland added eight points.
Claytor said he saw some positive things from his team on Monday, but he knows they have a lot of improvement to make in order to compete the way they want to later in the season.
“We know we’ve got a lot of guys that can play,” said Claytor. “It’s going to take time to gel and to see what rotations work. We’ll continue to try to get better and be more consistent.”
Gordon Central, led by new head coach Wes Greer,
GORDON CENTRAL (62)
Pardue 2, Broome 15, McDaniel 13, Murray 2, James 17, Angland 8, Chastain 5. UNITY CHRISTIAN (50) Davis 2, Whitley 14, Nance 2, Marcos 2, Dyer
1, Wilkerson 19, Mohler 7, Smith 2, Brown 1.
GC 14 10 17 21 — 62 UC 15 14 8 13 — 50
3-pointers: Gordon Central 3 (McDaniel 3), Unity Christian 8 (Whitley 4, Wilkerson 4); Free Throws:
Gordon Central 15-25, Unity Christian 8-11; Records: Gordon Central 2-1, Unity Christian 0-2.
GORDON CENTRAL (38)
Wilson 11, Raley 7, Whittle 10, Chastain 10.
UNITY CHRISTIAN (27) Wisener 7, Pardue 10, Marcos 2, King 2, Dixon 4. GC 9 8 17 4 — 38
UC 6 2 6 13 — 27 3-pointers: Gordon Central 3 (Wilson 2, Raley 1), Unity Christian 1 (Wisener 1); Free Throws: Gordon Central 5-16, Unity Christian 6-13; Records: Gordon Central 2-0, Unity Christian 0-2.