Provine’s Earnesto Green (12) puts pressure on Warren Central’s Anthony Lewis during Tuesday’s game.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[11/10/04]Jesse Johnson knew what he was getting into when he scheduled defending Class 4A champion Provine for his team’s first game of the season on Tuesday. The Warren Central boys basketball coach also knew he’d be without several members of his team who still are playing football.

Warren Central actually led after the first quarter before Provine began its impressive comeback. The final result was an 81-52 blowout in the opening round of the Coca-Cola Classic.

The Vikings (0-1) fall into the losers’ bracket where they will play Jefferson County, which lost 60-55 to Forest Hill. Provine (2-0) advances to face Forest Hill on Thursday.

“I knew it would be a test for us,” Johnson said. “We wanted to try and test to see what kind of level we’re at from the beginning … I truly believe we could compete with that team if we had all our players.”

Warren Central did compete early on.

Anthony Lewis scored six of his 10 points in the first quarter as Warren Central surprised Provine and took a 16-13 lead.

“I don’t care who you’re playing, especially on the road, you have to be ready to play on the tipoff,” Provine coach Luther Riley said. “We told the guys that, but for whatever reason they came out sluggish.”

The Vikings were overmatched at nearly every position and the lead didn’t last long. Three minutes into the second quarter, the Rams took a 19-18 advantage and never looked back. Over the middle two quarters, the Rams outscored the Vikings 50-21.

Provine’s Mario Casey led all scorers with 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers. Otis Williams added 19 points and was 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Overall, the Rams made 49 percent of their shots and hit 36 percent on 3-pointers. They also outrebounded the Vikings 40-24, led by Jarvis Williams’ 12 boards.

“We were going out there to try to hang with them the best we could,” said WC’s Cody Grant, who scored a team-high 12 points. “We knew we were outsized a little bit, but we played good the first couple of minutes in the first quarter. But then we kind of got outside ourselves and tried to do things we weren’t capable of doing.”

As Provine pulled away, Warren Central began to shoot more jump shots and 3-pointers in an effort to keep up. The Vikings finished with 35 percent shooting, and hit only 21 percent behind the 3-point line.

Despite the loss, Johnson said he was proud of the way his team played against a tough opponent.

“I wanted to see what kind of heart our players had, and they stepped up to the task,” Johnson said.

(G) WC 67, Jefferson Co. 28

Warren Central used a 21-0 run between the third and fourth quarters to pull away with a dominant defensive effort. Cookie Johnson hit three 3-pointers and finished with 18 points to lead the Lady Vikes (1-0), and Carla Latham chipped in 12.

Ninette White led Jefferson County (0-2) with seven points.

“I thought we came out in the third quarter and just really got after them,” WC coach Donny Fuller said. “We go into halftime up by 14, and the next thing I know, I look up and we’re up 30.”

WC’s full-court press forced Jefferson County into 37 turnovers. The Tigerettes made only 10 of 42 (.238) shots.