Late San Angelo Central run too much for Wylie boys basketball to overcome

The Wylie boys basketball team fought to the finish, but San Angelo Central's run to end the third quarter and start the fourth quarter proved too much to overcome at Bulldog Gym on Tuesday night.

At the end of the 64-49 loss, Wylie coach Gregg Ruffin made sure to let his team know how he felt about the game rather than the outcome. Even when Central made its run or when Derrick Evans and Avery Brekke left the game early with injuries, the Bulldogs didn't back down.

"That's what I told them, I'm happy, I'm proud because we put some fight in there today," Ruffin said. "And then when Derrick got hurt, we kept fighting. Then when Avery got hurt, we still fought. When you you lose those two guys, who are key for your team, and you keep going at it, we hit some shots. We're going to get better from that game."

Early on, it looked as if the Bulldogs (6-5) might get run out of their own gym as Central opened with a 13-4 lead with 2:25 to play in the first quarter. By the end of the frame, Wylie still trailed by nine, but the Bulldogs showed they could answer the early scoring.

Trailing 21-12, Wylie made its first run.

Brekke hit a shot and Kazion Brown made a 3-pointer to pull within four. The Bulldogs ended the half on an 8-2 run to make it 32-30.

Wylie opened with a basket to start the second half to tie the game for the first time since it was scoreless. An Evans free throw brought the Bulldogs back to within one at 37-36, but the Bobcats answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to start an 11-0 run.

"We've got to trust what we're doing and the guy who was in it didn't trust that somebody was going to take the basket, so he was leaving the corner open and they hit two 3s," Ruffin said. "It was a one-point game and it went to seven just like that. We've got to trust what we're doing, and that's still youth on our team in those spots. We'll get better from it."

A Dylan Jennings basket pulled Wylie back within six, but Central got the final bucket of the third quarter to take a 50-42 lead into the fourth. Seven points was as close as the game would get in the final frame.

But there were a lot of positives for the Bulldogs to take away, including the return of Jennings after he missed some time to let the pinky finger on his shooting hand heal. He is still not fully healthy, but his return was a welcome sight.

"Having Dylan back, maybe one of these days he'll get to 100%, but to have him on the court hitting shots and Kazion hitting shots is big for us," Ruffin said. "If we can start hitting shots from the perimeter, we become a tough team to guard because our two guys inside can do some work when it's one-on-one. To have those guys hit some shots, maybe we can get that going when we get into the tournament."

NONDISTRICT BOYS BASKETBALL

San Angelo Central 64, Wylie 49

Central 19 13 18 14—64

Wylie 10 20 12 7—49

SAN ANGELO CENTRAL (10-1) — Mathew Cooper 4 0-0 10, Branden Campbell 6 0-1 14, Raven Ortiz 4 0-0 10, Dominic Ruiz 1 0-0 2, Jacob English 2 0-0 6, Chace Fields 3 0-0 6, Joseph Rowe-Pearce 1 0-0 3, Jaedyn Gipson 1 0-0 2, Dre Young 5 1-3 11. Totals 27 1-4 64.

WYLIE (6-5) — Derrick Evans 2 1-2 5, KJ Long 0 0-0 0, Isaiah Carrillo 1 0-0 2, Dylan Jennings 4 0-0 9, Kazion Brown 2 0-0 6, Martin Marshall 1 2-2 5, Colby Norris 0 0-0 0, Hunter Hood 0 0-0 0, Mark Fakhoury 0 0-0 0, Avery Brekke 9 4-9 22, Harrison Heighten 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-13 49.

3-Point Goals — Central 7 (Cooper 2, Ortiz 2, English 2, Rowe-Pearce 1), Wylie 4 (Jennings 1, Brown 2, Marshall 1). Total Fouls — Central 12, Wylie 9. Fouled Out — None. Technical Fouls — None.

Lady Bulldogs offense inconsistent in loss

There are times when it looks like the Wylie girls basketball team can score at will, then others when offense is a struggle.

That's something the Lady Bulldogs (6-7) have battled all season and it reared its head again in Tuesday's 42-34 loss to San Angelo Central.

Wylie scored 11 points in the first quarter, taking an 11-7 lead into the second. But the Lady Bulldogs only managed two points and trailed 15-13 at the half. Things got going again in the third quarter, with 13 points to keep the game close. Central outscored Wylie 13-8 in the fourth to put the game away.

"We've struggled all year, just finding ways to score," Wylie coach Amy Powell said. "It's something that we've been working on. We know that it's a problem. Defense is not a problem, we've been keeping teams in the low 40s, pretty habitually all season long. The problem is, we've got to be better about scoring and the scoring has to be more evenly distributed."

Kenyah Maroney got the offense started, scoring Wylie's first seven points of the game. Caroline Steadman took over from there, scoring 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half, including three 3-pointers.

Kaylan Adams finished with eight points and Mycala Reed had three for the Lady Bulldogs.

"Everybody on our team knows Caroline is our best perimeter shooter," Powell said. "At the same time, teams are starting to key on that and when they know you have one really good shooter, we've got to have other shooters step up, score points and take some of the pressure off Caroline."

Wylie travels to Class 6A Keller Timber Creek for a 2 p.m. game Saturday at 2 before returning home to face Class 4A No. 14 Stephenville next week. Those are the first two of four games and a tournament before District 4-5A play begins.

"We've set up a very difficult predistrict schedule," Powell said. "But district's just right around the corner and it doesn't get much easier when you have Lubbock-Cooper and Lubbock Monterey that are state ranked in the top 20 right now. We're just hoping, game-by-game, to learn a little bit more, gain our young kids a little bit more experience, learning how to handle ball pressure and being able to capitalize on some of those opportunities they're creating for themselves.

"They're playing hard. Playing hard is not the issue. The issue right now is finding ways to get the ball in the basket."

NONDISTRICT GIRLS BASKETBALL

San Angelo Central 42, Wylie 34

Central 9 6 14 13—42

Wylie 11 2 13 8—34

SAN ANGELO CENTRAL (5-5) — Alyssa Barron 0 1-2 1, Jewels Perez 3 2-2 8, Peyton Mayberry 0 0-0 0, Delaney Hester 3 0-0 6, Makayla Salazar 0 0-0 0, Anna Wierzowiecki 0 0-0 0, Sydnee Moore 0 0-0 0, Deandra Allen 4 2-2 11, Layla Young 5 2-4 16. Totals 15 7-10 42.

WYLIE (6-7) — Camri Travis 0 0-0 0, Caroline Steadman 4 5-7 16, Mycala Reed 1 0-2 3, Alexis LaCroix 0 0-0 0, Kyla Kelley 0 0-2 0, Kaylan Adams 4 0-2 8, Halli Russell 0 0-0 0, Kenyah Maroney 3 0-0 7, Indiah Maroney 0 0-0 0, Nylah Alvarado 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 5-13 34.

3-Point Goals — Central 4 (Allen 1, Young 3), Wylie 4 (Steadman 3, Reed 1). Total Fouls — Central 14, Wylie 11. Fouled Out — Wylie: K. Maroney. Technical Fouls — None.

Jordan Hofeditz covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jhofeditz. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Both San Angelo Central basketball teams pull away late to sweep Wylie