West Side delivers pain in rout of 21st Century

• Reprints

Updated: March 2, 2012 8:21AM

GARY — Moments into Tuesday’s game between 21st Century and West Side, the cringe worthy sound of two teenage heads smacking together resonated inside the gym at West Side.

Just a beat before, 21st Century senior Mykel Mayes had opened the scoring with a strong move at the basket, but as he turned he accidently ran straight into West Side senior forward Rashaad Armstrong.
Both players winced and Mayes briefly had to leave for medical attention. But if 21st Century thought that collision hurt, then it had no idea how much pain the Cougars could truly cause as they ran away with the 70-44 victory.

“That was the play of the game, it seems like,” 21st Century coach Rodney Williams said.

As West Side (9-7) gained its footing in the first quarter, 21st Century (5-9) tumbled into a bottomless pit of blunders. Without Mayes on the floor, 21st Century initially appeared fine as Akee Porter flashed to the hole and finished despite a block from West Side’s junior big man Tremmell Powell.

However, West Side answered Porter’s drive with an 8-2 run that by the time Mayes returned at the 5:02 mark, had only just begun.

“That’s been our focus to try to get off to better starts,” West Side coch Winston Garland said. “We clicked and we talk about that all the time.”

In the first quarter alone, 21st Century threw the ball away eight times and picked up 11 team fouls. One reserve, Jeremiah King, picked up three personals before the two-minute mark of the quarter.

“Anytime you’re more concerned about the officiating than you’re playing,” Williams said, “you get results like that.”

West Side only needed one big quarter — 24 points in the first — and it pulled away from there.