By Cody Thomason

The Vicksburg Post

Games can always be won and lost at the free throw line, and Warren Central’s 78-71 win over Provine High School on Saturday proved that.

The Vikings (18-5, 5-1 Division 4-6A) went to the charity stripe a whopping 49 times on the day and connected on 75 percent of those attempts.

Warren Central’s offense started out very slowly, and the Vikings went into the second quarter down 17-11. But in the second, they started drawing fouls, and ended the half leading by one point.

The second half was highlighted by a pair of De’Arius Henyard dunks and a fourth quarter in which the team knocked down 17 free throws, ultimately deciding the game.

Warren Central coach Bruce Robinson said finishing games strong has been in his team’s DNA this season.

“I thought we played well,” Robinson said. “We played good offensively, we made some shots. We struggled a little early against that zone, but I figured if we could spread the floor we could get them, especially if they were in foul trouble.”

No one took advantage of Provine’s fouls like Jalen Allen, who led all scorers with 23 points, 19 of which came from the foul line. Chris Early added 10 points for the Vikings.

For the Rams, Kenna Bryant scored 19 and LaDarius Anderson added 14.

Provine tried to utilize a full-court press in the fourth quarter to slow down the Vikings, but were ultimately unsuccessful.

“When people press you, they leave themselves open to easy baskets, and we break a press to score,” Robinson said.

The win was crucial for the Vikings, as they were coming off of an unexpected 61-43 loss to Greenville the night before.

“I think we hustled a lot more than we did last night,” Robinson said. “The effort was there. We knocked our foul shots down. Defensively, we’re still working on it, but you have to like the kids’ effort today in terms of bouncing back after a tough loss.”

With the division tournament right around the corner, the win over Provine gives the Vikings a good chance to regroup.

“It’s just good to be able to come out of last night’s funk and win a ball game,” Robinson said.

(G) Warren Central 65, Provine 41

Coming off of two brutally close losses in a row, Warren Central’s Lady Vikes needed to put their recent struggles out of their mind and get a win to get back on track.

The Lady Vikes took care of business and handily beat Provine 65-41 Saturday.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was locked at 13 and it looked like Warren Central (19-7, 5-3 Division 4-6A) could end up with another tight game. The offense clicked in the second quarter, and they were able to start pulling away.

What really gave the Lady Vikes the advantage was their defense, as they deployed a full court press in the second half that Provine did not have an answer for.

“When you can create turnovers, and then execute on the transition, that was good for us to be able to extend the lead,” Warren Central coach Jackie Martin-Glass said.

Warren Central finished with 16 steals in the game, and was able to convert a lot of those turnovers into fast break points on the other end.

Aniya Sanders led all scorers with 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting, and Da’Sha McGloster and Amber Gaston each scored 10 points while shooting 50 percent from the field.

For Provine, Jakia Harper scored 14 points and Debreanna Quinn scored 10.

Martin-Glass said she saw more effort from her players than the previous game, and with the lopsided margin of victory she was able to get some younger players more time in the game than usual.

“Right now I’m really trying to look for a combination of hustle on the floor,” Martin-Glass said. “I don’t care who it is, if you go out there and you hustle, you’re going to be on the court. If you’re dragging around and not executing, you’re going to come off. So today and all of next week is going to be trying to find that chemistry or combination of girls that can play well together and give me what I want on defense.”