No. 10 Wildcats stay undefeated with pair of wins in CM Invitational
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The No. 10 Sulphur Springs Wildcats opened the season hot with three consecutive wins, and this week they were given the opportunity to keep that hot streak going, with a pair of games in the Chad’s Media Invitational. The Chad’s Media Invitational saw some of the best teams in the state, and provided the Wildcats a chance to play against some strong competition.
Monday, vs No. 14 Dallas Lincoln
The opening day of the Chad’s Media Invitational provided the Wildcats with their second opportunity to face a Top-25 team, after they took down Wilmer-Hutchins in their season opener. Senior point guard Branson Lynn got the scoring starting for the Wildcats, taking down a pair of early 3-pointers in route to an eight-point first quarter.
Despite Lynn bringing the scoring early, Sulphur Springs struggled to find momentum, as Dallas Lincoln kept control of the game for the first half. The Wildcats even trailed by as much as nine points early in the second quarter, but a huge run in the closing minutes of the half brought the half-time score to 33-28.
The third quarter saw Sulphur Springs begin to take control of the game, though they were never fully able to take a lead. It wasn’t until there were 6:40 left in the game, when senior Parker Whisenhunt hit junior DJ Wilkerson on a backdoor layup when the Wildcats finally took the lead.
Once they did they never looked back, going on to win the game by a final score of 55-46. Whisenhunt was named the Slaughter’s BBQ Player of the Game, finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
“It’s great for us, especially early in the season, seeing what we can do and what we need to work on and just for preparing us for down the road and in the playoffs,” Whisenhunt said of the hard fought win.
“We lost our leaders from last year, Justin [Haire], Cason [Arrington] and Caleb [Alexander], all the seniors, so just having to step up is pretty big for us, but I feel like we’re doing a pretty good job so far,”Whinsenhunt added, in reference to himself and the other seniors.
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Also having a huge night was Kordrick Tuner, who led the team both in points (17) and rebounds (11). It was his second double-double of the season and kept his streak of double-digit scoring games alive.
The other Wildcat to finish in double-digits was Lynn, who had 10 points, as well as four rebounds and two assists. Lynn also shot very well, knocking down two of his four 3-point attempts.
“Going into the offseason [his shooting] was one of the main things I knew I needed to work on,” Lynn said. “I knew I didn’t want to start off in a slump this year. So I shot a lot, I got a lot of shots up.
“I had to take some pride on [defense] today because at the beginning of the game they were making their shots, so I knew I had to be a leader and step up and that’s what I did,” Lynn said of his strong defensive performance.
Other scorers for Sulphur Springs included Theo McKelvey, Malachi Myles and Macaulin Rollison. McKelvey had five points and three rebounds, while Myles had four points and four rebounds and Rollison had two points and three rebounds.
The win kept them undefeated and marked their second win over a ranked opponent and propelled them into Tuesday’s game.
Tuesday vs Naaman Forrest
The Wildcats turned around on Tuesday, looking to make up for the slow start they got off to on Monday, by controlling the game from the very tip. Sulphur Springs got out to an awesome 21-8 start in the opening frame, and continued to grow their lead to 40-18 at the end of the first half.
While Naaman Forrest did put up a better fight in the second half, it was still all Wildcats, as they never let them game get within 15 points. Sulphur Springs finished strong, even outscoring Naaman Forrest in the final frame, in route to a 71-51 win.
This time it was Turner who was named the Slaughter’s BBQ Player of the Game. Turner had an incredible 18-point, 15-rebound double-double, shooting 7/10 from the field, as well as dishing out four assists and blocking two shots.
“When they double team me, I can’t really do anything other than get my teammates involved, but when it’s a one-on-one, it’s an easy score and I just keep it,” Turner said in his postgame interview. “
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“It’s coming natural. I have a lot of experience passing the ball and stuff like that. I had Justin [Haire] last year and I gave him the ball all the time and it just picked up and I kept passing it,”Turner said of his ability to both score and also get assists.
Both Lynn and Whisenhunt also finished in double-digits for the Wildcats. Lynn had 14 points on 5/7 shooting and 2/4 from the 3-point line, while also dishing out six assists.
Whisenhunt also had a very efficient game, scoring 10 points on 5/9 shooting, while leading the team with seven assists. He also had a pair of rebounds and a pair of steals.
Mckelvey and Theofelides both had strong contributions, scoring nine points and eight points respectively. Theofiledes did so by shooting 3/3, including making both of his 3-point attempts.
Other scorers including Myles with four points, Rollison and Gavin White with three points each and Wilkerson with two points.
Sulphur Springs walks out of the invitational with a perfect 5-0 record, including two wins over ranked opponents. After the final game we got to catch up with Coach Shaver on his thoughts of the Invitational overall.
“I think it went great,” Shaver said. “To put it on here, in Sulphur Springs and in East Texas, hopefully we can continue this and continue to get better and better teams as we go through.”
“We want to see the best competition that we can early on,” Shaver added. “To be able to see it on our home floor is huge and this is awesome.”
“Hopefully we can continue this for years to come.”
Both days of the Chad’s Media Invitational can be viewed right here:
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