Santa's sleigh stopped in Wilson on Tuesday night as the Wilson Warriors hosted both Old Saint Nick and the Southern Lehigh Spartans. The gift that Santa gave the crowd was a terrific high school basketball game. The premiere matchup featured two star centers, the Spartans' Alan Rockel and Wilsons' Kowan Scott. Scott's athleticism proved to be the difference as Wilson improved to 2-1 with a 58-48 victory.
It was a perimeter assault by the Spartans early as Southern Lehigh drained four three pointers to open up a 25-15 lead after one quarter. Wilson responded with a 17-4 run to take a lead they would not relinquish. Scott and Rockel came as advertised, but it was the Wilson defense that excelled after the first quarter, holding Southern Lehigh to just eight points in the second quarter.
The Spartans surrounded Scott through out the game, but the big man was a terror on the offensive glass. Wilsons' Scott finished with fifteen points, twelve rebounds and five blocked shots. He was aided by the Warrior back court of Chris Cooper and A.J. Parker who directed a solid half court offense . Rockel led Southern Lehigh with fifteen points, doing most of his damage early.
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Wilson sealed the game in the fourth quarter, as Cooper dished three beautiful assists off dribble penetration and Scott showed why he is an outstanding two-way player with three blocked shots. Spartan sixth man Chris Mobley scored nine of his eleven points in the fourth quarter, but Wilson held off Southern Lehigh for an impressive victory.
Wilsons' coach Bob Frankenfield alluded to a wake-up call for his team after one quarter. " We forgot how to play defense early, but we got back to our proper rotations. Offensively we had good dribble penetration and Scott was a presence down low." Coach Bob Shaffer saw his team drop their second close game in succession, but remained encouraged. "Wilson is athletic, they rebound, and Scott cleans up in the middle. We had success with threes early, but got impatient with our offense in the second half."