Competing in the James C. Haile Tournament in Murfreesboro, the Centertown 7-8 grade Warriors won their first-round matchup, 56-48, over the Celina Bulldogs on Saturday.
Centertown’s top gun Wyatt Wilson, with a total of 22 points, drew first blood when he tickled the twine from outside the arc for a 3-pointer. Warrior T.J. Howard followed up with a trey of his own for a 6-0 lead the Warriors would never relinquish, keeping a 18-12 lead on the Bulldogs through all four quarters.
“Celina has a quick, good-shooting team,” said Centertown coach Caleb Shehane. “We played very good defense through the whole game.”
The Bulldogs were no pushovers, as their top scorer, Grant Strong, had a game-high 26 points.
“We got into a little foul trouble in the second half but we really played well as a team and everyone contributed to the win,”Shehane added. “We had good inside play from Westen Wilson both offensively scoring at the block and defensively pulling rebounds, and outside shooting from both Wyatt Wilson and T.J. Howard.”
Overall both teams shot for equal percentages from the charity stripe with Centertown hitting 7-of-15 for 46 percent and Celina was good for 8-of-17 for 47 percent.
Centertown had five players score as they distributed and basketball well,  and three in double figures, Wyatt Wilson 22 points, Westen Wilson 15 points, and Howard 11 points.
Also scoring for Centertown were Jarred Scruggs and Dominique Hodges, both with 4 points.
Centertown’s James C. Haile tournament game two is scheduled for this Saturday, Jan. 21 at 12:45 p.m. against York Elementary at Murfreesboro Christian School’s varsity gym.