Wheeler’s boys basketball team was thought to have the toughest first-round draw of any Class AAAAA region champion.
North Gwinnett, Region 7-AAAAA’s fourth seed, had wins over No. 2 Peachtree Ridge and No. 4 Norcross and wound up No. 8 in the final regular-season state rankings.
The danger never showed itself Saturday night in Wheeler’s home gym, as the third-ranked Wildcats blew out North Gwinnett 75-52 after taking a 10-point lead in the first quarter and stretching it to 30 by the fourth.
Five Wheeler players scored at least 10 points. K.K. Simmons led with 18.
“That means we’re moving the ball around,’’ Simmons said of the balanced scoring. “If that happens every time, shouldn’t nobody beat us.’’
Wheeler (21-6) dominated despite getting only a fair night from Chuck Mitchell, Wheeler’s 6-foot-7 junior center who has scholarship offers from SEC and ACC schools. Mitchell had 12 points and eight rebounds and sat out long stretches with foul trouble.
Tevin Reeves scored 12 points for Wheeler. Chris Longoria also scored 12, and Derrick Evans scored 10. Wheeler pulled its starters after Simmons, a UNC-Wilmington signee, converted a three-point play for a 69-38 lead with 4:19 left.
North Gwinnett was forced into more than a dozen turnovers by halftime, at which time Wheeler led 35-16.
“Honestly, it was defense,’’ said Reeves, who scored his points off the bench. “We went hard, no selfishness. K.K. was hitting his shots. Just a complete game.’’
North Gwinnett’s leading scorer, Cyrus Lavant, was held to two points in the first half, though he finished with a team-high nine.
North Gwinnett (19-10) lost its final three games and was 3-5 in February after wins over Region 7-champion Norcross and state-ranked Peachtree Ridge early on. North Gwinnett was hoping to advance in the state playoffs for the first time since 2005.
In 2004, North Gwinnett pulled one of the biggest first-round shockers of the decade -- a win over Wheeler, the defending AAAAA champion at the time.
Though the loss was avenged in the playoffs the next year, Wheeler coach Doug Lipscomb said the bad memory of that game was mentioned a time or two this week with his players.
“It’s a fact they beat us before,’’ said Lipscomb, whose teams are 14-3 all-time in the first round. “We take nothing for granted. We know that for sure.’’
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