WEST POINT — As he walked to the locker room at halftime, West Point High School boys basketball coach Brad Cox had an astonished look on his face as he peeked at the scoreboard.
“I looked up and then told one of my assistants, ‘How are we only up by one?’ ” Cox said.
After playing what Cox described a near-perfect first half that saw the Green Wave create havoc with their half-court trap defense and get easy baskets with their long, athletic wing players, West Point struggled to put away Class 5A, Region 2, District 1 rival Oxford on Friday night.
That’s when Cox knew his team might be in trouble.
“I really just felt like there would be a time in which Oxford would make a run and the issue would be whether we could survive the onslaught,” Cox said. “We just made mistakes and had turnovers at the worst possible time.”
Oxford used a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter to beat West Point 58-55 and complete a regular-season sweep of the Green Wave.
Chargers coach Drew Tyler would like to think his team will get used to playing in hostile environments because it won’t be able to play in its home gym for the rest of the season. With their gym being renovated, Oxford has been forced to maneuver its schedule so all of its remaining region games are on the road.
“Our kids are used to being in this type of deal and understanding adversity is going to happen on the road,” Tyler said. “We have a young team that has grown up quickly with trips to Missouri and road wins here and at Pontotoc this season.”
Oxford (15-7, 3-1 region) slowed the pace early with a 2-3 zone, but West Point (20-5, 2-2) ran out to a 7-2 start after finding holes in the defense against the undersized Chargers. With a pair of 3-pointers by Josh Gibbs, Oxford tried to make it a full-court game, and its pressure caused problems for the West Point ballhandlers in the fourth quarter.
Gibbs, who came into the game averaging around 13 points, led the Chargers with 18 points. Shelby McEwen had 17 points, nine rebounds, and three steals in the second half.
Gibbs made a putback on his missed floater down the left side of the lane that gave the Chargers a five-point lead with less than a minute remaining.
“I think the defense was as surprised as I was to have the basketball run through me,” Gibbs said. “I got the ball and suddenly the entire left side of the floor was completely wide open. The shock may be why I missed my shot.”
West Point was led by double-figure efforts of A.J. Jones, Juan Davis, and Demarius Calvert. Jones had 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half.
Cox will have to regroup the Green Wave with two district games remaining. He reminded his dejected Green Wave players in the locker room that everybody will be 0-0 less than a month when the district tournaments start.
“We got New Hope and Saltillo to end region play, and if this game was any indication of how it’ll go down the stretch here, we’ll see Oxford one more time,” Cox said. “If that were to happen, our kids know they can be right there with them on a neutral court and have a chance to win.”
Oxford girls 59,
West Point 37
The Lady Chargers superior ball movement to build a 19-5 lead after the first quarter en route to their victory.
Senior guard Chynna Knight had 12 of her 14 points in the first half to lead the Lady Chargers. Oxford lead the Lady Green Wave 51-27 after three quarters, which allowed them to rest their starters for the final eight minutes.
Junior Shamaya Lyles had 14 points for West Point, which didn’t have another starter in double figures.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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