The behind-the-back passes and high-flying dunks are nice. But the Wheeler program is built on something else that is a lot less glitzy and a lot more grimy. Defense.
The Wheeler “D” was on full display, especially in the second half of the Wildcats’ 64-37 win over visiting Centennial (16-13) on the court in Marietta named after Wheeler head coach Doug Lipscomb. Wheeler (27-2), the top ranked team in the AJC Class AAAAAA Top 10 and No. 1 seed from Region 5, will now face No. 8 Douglas County (21-5), in a huge second-round match up Friday night.
Wednesday night’s warm up against Centennial illustrated the key to the Wildcat’s success during much of the past two decades, in which Wheeler has won 17 region titles and five state championships. Wheeler collected 17 steals and 15 offensive rebounds in the game.
The Knights scored the game’s first two buckets, but Wheeler took the lead for good with an 13-0 run sparked by three steals. A dunk by senior forward Jalen Brown -- still uncommitted and considered by many to be the state’s best player -- capped the spurt and gave the Wildcats a 13-4 lead midway through the first quarter. But a game Centennial squad clawed its way back to within four points, 13-9, by the end of the period after a deep three-pointer by junior guard Steven Thompson.
Centennial took advantage of poor perimeter shooting by Wheeler in the second quarter and kept the game close. A bucket with under 10 seconds left by Knight junior Adam Saeed made the score 24-20 at the half.
But Wheeler turned up the defensive intensity to start the third quarter in impressive fashion and put the game away in a flash. The Wildcats scored the period’s first 12 points, nabbing steals on the Knight’s first three possessions, to take a 36-20 lead in the blink of an eye. The first eight points of the spurt came on dunks, including a soaring one-hander by Brown off of a pin point lob pass from junior point guard Makhai Eastmond, that sent the rowdy Wheeler student section into a tizzy and enlisted a jubilant reaction from Lipscomb.
Still, the Wildcat’s longtime head coach and mastermind of one of the state’s most consistently successful programs, said his team’s defensive effort is what excites him most.
“When we defend we can play up tempo, and we have to stay up tempo,” Lipscomb said. “They feed off of each other [defensively], and that’s what I like to see. You have to play defense if you want to win. You have to defend to win. We’ve built our program on that.”
Wheeler pushed its lead to 40-25 midway through the quarter, but Centennial pulled back to within 10, 40-30, after a basket by senior center Zach Carey and a three-point play by Saeed, who led the Knights with 13 points. But the Wildcats stepped on the gas again, this time going on a 15-0 run that spanned from late in the third quarter to the 5 minute mark of the fourth. Wheeler picked up four more steals during the barrage and three more dunks – one by Brown, who led all scorers with 26 points, one by junior guard Cam Jordan, and one by Tennessee signee Shembari Phillips, who soared down the left side of the lane and hammered home a thunderous one-hander.
The second round contest against Douglas County should be much more challenging for Wheeler, seeking to get back to the Class AAAAAA title game after losing the championship to Tift County last season. But while that loss has provided some fuel for this season’s title run, Lipscomb said “avenging” the defeat is too strong of a word.
“I wouldn’t say we want to avenge the loss. Only two teams in the state get to make it that far and we were one of them,” Lipscomb said. “This year we just want to make it back there and make sure we bring it home.”
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