WILMINGTON — Miami Trace 6-8 senior Drew Guthrie dominated the paint for 31 points to help guide the 12th-ranked Panthers (Division II Associated Press poll) to 58-43 victory at Wilmington Tuesday.
“Miami Trace’s big kid is a beast,” Wilmington head coach Jermaine Isaac said. “Hats off to them. Those guys played well.”
Miami Trace broke open a tightly-contested first half with an 8-0 run during the last 1:43 to take a 30-22 advantage into the break. Six of the points in the spurt came from Guthrie. Four of the points came off Panther steals.
“We knew Wilmington would come out with a lot of energy. We knew guard play would be their strength. They played us extremely tough,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “I thought we rushed some shots in the first half. I thought we did a better job pounding the ball inside and playing at our speed in the second half. We felt that was our mismatch with Drew and our bigs underneath, and we got their big in foul trouble and it benefitted us.”
With a 6-0 spurt at the end of the third quarter, the Hurricane (3-11) pulled to within 43-39. They would get no closer.
Miami Trace cored the first 10 points of the final period to secure the victory.
“Our guys played hard,” WHS head coach Jermaine Isaac said. “Good things are happening. I don’t believe in moral victories at all. But where we are, we are learning about ourselves individually and collectively. And our kids are embracing the growth that is coming from this.”
Mikey Brown Jr. led the Hurricane with 10 points.
Miami Trace (13-1) will host Jackson Friday with the freshman game starting at 4:45 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT – 10 20 13 15 – 58
Wil – 10 12 17 4 – 43
MIAMI TRACE — Coleden May 1-0-2, Isaiah Reisinger 4-0-9, Austin Boedeker 4-0-8, Andrew Guthrie 13-5-31, Bryson Osborne 1-1-3, Shay Salyers 1-0-2, Brady Armstrong 1-0-3, Bryson Sheets 0-0-0, Holden Hunter 0-0-0. TOTALS — 23 (2)-6-58. Free throw shooting: 6 of 11 for 55 percent. Three-point field goals: Armstrong, Reisinger.
WILMINGTON — Brown 3 (1)-1-10, Rickman 0-3-3, Camp 4-0-8, Platt 2-2-6, Lazic 2-2-6, Fickert 2-0-4, Morales 1-0-2, Achterman 2-0-4. TOTALS — 16 (1)-8-43. Free throw shooting: 8 of 10 for 80 percent. Three-point field goal: Brown.
