Ellwood Christian (7-11) almost completed one of the biggest comebacks in school history Friday night against Wilcox Central.

An abysmal start put the Eagles in a 26-point hole at halftime, but Ellwood rallied to within 65-60 with five minutes to play. At that point, the Eagles finally ran out of gas and Wilcox Central held on for a 78-68 win.

“Once you get to the top of the hill, you’ve gave out so much energy trying to get there that you don’t have enough to get over the hill,” said Ellwood Christian coach Darrell Walker.

The Eagles started the game ice cold from the field. Ellwood scored only one basket in the first 10 minutes of the game and trailed 34-6. To make matters worse for Ellwood, the Eagles also turned the ball over seemingly every other possession to begin the game.

Slow starts have plagued the Eagles the last several weeks, including in a blowout loss to Dallas County.

“As soon as we come off the bus, as soon we come out of the locker room we’ve got to be ready to play,” Walker said.

Wilcox Central’s aggressive style of defense helped the Jaguars build a big lead, but it also started to bite them in the second quarter. Ellwood was in the penalty early and took advantage by driving to the basket to increase the likelihood of getting fouled.

Derrick Griffin made eight free throws in the second quarter as part of his 28-point night.

Even with all the free throws, Wilcox led 37-10 at one point and took a 48-22 advantage into halftime.

“In the locker room, we said we took their best shot and I know we haven’t played our best ball,” Walker said.

Rayford Mitchell stole the ball on the opening play of the third quarter and went the other way for an uncontested layup. Griffin added another layup and a technical foul on Wilcox Central gave the Eagles two more free points.

Wilcox seemed to settle down and led 57-35 after Ricardo Warren’s layup. Ellwood went on an 11-4 run to close the quarter, led by a 3-point play from Griffin.

The Eagles kept closing the gap in the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer by Tyre Webster pulled the Eagles to within 62-53. It was the first time they’d trailed by single digits since the opening minutes of the first quarter. Wilcox had scored the game’s first 11 points.

Griffin made a layup to pull the Eagles within 65-60 with more than five minutes to play. Wilcox quickly retook a 10-point lead and Ellwood appeared to simply run out of energy in the final minutes.

Mitchell finished the game with 10 points for the Eagles and Justin Bufford had eight.

The Eagles will play Isabella Saturday with games starting at 5 p.m. It’ll be each team’s final area contest before postseason play begins.

 

Wilcox Central 76, 

Ellwood Christian 50 (Girls)

Down 25 with 1:45 left to play, Ellwood Christian coach James Spears called timeout to talk to his team. Since Wilcox had led by 30 in the fourth quarter, the mercy rule was already in effect, meaning the clock was running continuously.

A timeout was the only way for it to stop. With 37.9 seconds to play, Spears called another timeout.

He said both instances were teachable moments for an Ellwood Christian team that is improving, but still has a long way to go.

“We are 100 percent better than when we started,” Spears said.

The Eagles (0-18) lost to Wilcox Central 76-50 Friday night, but played the Jaguars almost evenly after only scoring six points in the opening quarter.

Spears can see the improvement, even if it’s not showing on Ellwood’s record just yet.

“We’ve got to start putting a complete game together,” Spears said.

“We are still missing that complete gap, a quarter, where we just don’t do anything. Every second half for the last three or four games we’ve played even with every team we’ve played.”

Brianna Dower scored 17 points to lead the way for the Eagles, who trailed 42-23 at halftime and 60-36 after three quarters.