PHILADELPHIA — Choctaw Central came out hot and stayed hot.

 

The Warriors used a very balanced offensive attack to race past West Lauderdale 57-38 in a key Region 4-4A matchup Thursday night.

 

Both teams continue Region 4-4A play this week as the Knights (14-4, 2-3 Region 4-4A) host Newton County on Friday night, while Choctaw Central (12-9, 3-2) will host Newton County on Saturday night.

 

“We played a pretty good game, we thought they were going to zone us, so we put some work in to make sure we can execute against the zone and that was the key,” said Choctaw Central coach Louis Wright. “One way to execute against the zone was to attack the gaps and the ball inside to get an easy basket at the rim or kick it out for an open shot.”

 

The first quarter was back-and-forth that saw Choctaw Central holding a 14-8 lead.

 

The second quarter is when the Warriors began to separate themselves. Over a span of six minutes of the second quarter Choctaw Central went on a 20-6 run to take a 34-14 lead and held a 36-17 lead at halftime.

 

In the third quarter the Knights did outscore the Warriors 15-9 to cut the lead down to 45-32 at the end of the quarter.

 

Choctaw Central went on a 12-2 run to begin the fourth quarter to stretch their lead out to 57-34 to seal the win.

 

Elias Isaac had a game-high 15 points to lead the Warriors, while Zylier Clemons added 13 points, Kaden Edwards chipped in 11 points and Tyris Stokes had 10 points for Choctaw Central.

 

“We got a host of guys that can score within the flow of the offense and with all the guys we got it makes it easy for them,” Wright said. “We needed this win at home because to get keep us in a good position for seeding into the district tournament.”

 

Xzaiver Loper had 11 points to lead West Lauderdale.

 

“We were shorthanded, but shorthanded don’t make you play hard. The defensive effort wasn’t there,” said West Lauderdale coach Duran Clark. “When we’d get a stop we’d turn the ball over on the offensive end and that deflated us. We’re going to learn from this, but we got to get ready for Newton County. Good thing is we’re back at so I think we’re going to be OK.”