Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011

Wake Christian stops losing skid

Coming off four straight losses, Wake Christian Academy coach Chris Underwood was looking for a big win. He got exactly what he was looking for in Tuesday night’s 68-50 win over Wilson Christian.

After a fairly even first quarter, Wake Christian had a huge second quarter, holding Wilson Christian to just six points and taking command of the game with a 30-17 halftime lead. While Wilson did play much better offensively in the second half, the towering duo of Hunter Baker and Tim Bunn controlled the basket on both ends of the court.

Baker finished with a team-high 20 points and Bunn added 17 points and six blocks for Wake Christian.

“We worked the ball around to the wings and they feed the post. Nobody out there could stop us tonight,” Baker said. “We were hitting all of our shots.” Underwood was gushed with excitement while talking about what Barker and Bunn bring to his team.

They bring scoring for one thing. On defense especially, Tim brings and intimidation factor where guys don’t want to take it inside,” he said. “Those guys mean a lot to our team and we need them every night.”

Nate Strother finished with a game-high 25 points for Wilson Christian.

Wilson Christian never lead in the game, but did take advantage of several Wake Christian turnovers to keep the score at a manageable 14-11.

Having already played Wilson once, Underwood entered the game prepared for what Wilson was going to throw at his team defensively and he made it clear to his team the adjustments that needed to be made between the first and second quarters.

“We played these guys in November and we know defensively they like to play the half-court trap,” he said. “We were struggling against that in the first quarter and they just got too many layups on the run. We just reminded our guys what sets we needed to break the press.”

The win gives Wake Christian a 3-5 record with one game remaining before Christmas break. While he was happy to be in the winning column, Underwood said he thought his team still has not played its’ best basketball.

“This is definitely a momentum builder for us,” he said. “We really didn’t play exceptional tonight but to get a win, to be on the other side of the book is definitely a plus for us.”

Earlier Tuesday night, Wake Christian Academy’s girls defeated Wilson Christian 35-32. Voelle Helder lead Wake Christian with 11 points and Jena Scott also added 11 for Wilson.