NCISAA 1A playoffs: Crossroads Christian eliminates Wayne Christian

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 17, 2016 1:48 PM

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His suit jacket draped over his shoulder and clipboard in hand, Victor Young emerged from the Wayne Christian locker room Tuesday evening.

His expression was worth a thousand words.

"This part of the season anybody can get beat at any given time, and in most cases, the more mature (team) with the better effort wins this time of year on any level," Young said. "Their maturity made a lot of difference tonight."

Senior point guard Jeremiah Greene poured in a game-high 32 points, including 15 from the free throw line, as Crossroads Christian claimed an 88-85, opening-round victory in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A boys' basketball playoffs Tuesday evening.

The Colts claimed their first-ever postseason win in program history and face top-seeded Burlington School in the elite eight.

Tyrique McClain, one of five seniors who played his final game in a WCS uniform, emerged as the Eagles' top scorer with 26 points. Wayne Christian made its first playoff appearance since 2007 and just its fourth overall.

The contested featured several ties and lead changes throughout the second half. The eighth-seeded Eagles trailed 56-53 before Brandon Cowan drained a game-tying 3-pointer off of McClain's assist.

WCS had 16 team assists on 29 made field goals.

Unable to break away, ninth-seeded Crossroads (24-8 overall) managed to maintain either a one- or two-possession lead. The Colts extended their advantage to five points on a couple of occasions, only to see the Eagles (16-12) answer behind either Cowan or McClain who constantly slashed his way to the basket.

"We know Tyrique is a heckuva player as well," Crossroads coach Joe Cooper said. "We wanted to make it tough on him. We talk about in our shootaround today really pinching (the middle) when we see the drive coming. We worked on our help-side defense.

"I don't know how good that was tonight because it seems like he was on the line or scoring a lot."

McClain shot 12 of 15 from the charity stripe.

Turnovers and offensive putbacks proved to be Wayne Christian's undoing in the fourth period. Crossroads tallied nearly one-fourth of its offense on either steals or second-chance opportunities, especially in the final 3 1/2 minutes of the game.

Greene, like McClain, took over. The transfer from Granville Central penetrated the lane and either kissed the shot off the glass, or found an unguarded teammate for an open shot. Greene connected on 15 of 20 free throws.

"The bigger the game, the better he's going to play," Cooper said. "We know that going in. He loves the competition and we know that we can count on him."

It was the final home game for five WCS seniors -- McClain, Osi Amaefule (16 points), Cowan (15 points), Brandon Jackson and Mason White.