Tuesday, December 30, 2008 — For the second time so far this season, the West Stanly boys’ basketball team earned a win over the Bulldogs.

No, not those Bulldogs in the royal blue and white.

The Colts advanced to the finals of the 2008 CMC-Northeast Holiday Classic Monday night with a 62-51 win over host team Jay M. Robinson.

Chauncey Bruton led West Stanly (6-3, 4-1 RRC) with 22 points and Elliott Drake came off the bench to add 16 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Bruton just missed a triple-double, finishing with 11 rebounds and seven assists. The West guard was 6-of-10 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from behind the three-point arc, and was 8-of-10 from the free throw line.

Drake was 6-of-7 from the line while Jace Whitley added eight points and five assists along with a perfect 4-of-4 at the charity stripe.

Elijah Hampton led the Bulldogs (4-9) with 16 points while Eric Renfro added 12.

West’s defense held the Bulldogs to 15-of-54 shooting (27.8 percent) and just 5-of-19 from three-point land. The Colts also outrebounded Robinson 38-21.

The Bulldogs employed a physical full-court trap for most of the game against West, which the Colts were generally able to break.

J.M. Robinson’s defense was very physical, leading to the Colts going 22-of-37 from the free-throw line, the last 10 attempts coming with under a minute left in the game.

The Bulldogs opened the game scoring nine of the game’s first 11 points, leading 9-2 with 2:56 on the clock.

West Stanly would respond with a 10-1 run over the last three minutes of the opening period to take a two-point lead, highlighted by an Andrew Wilson three-point play and a Jace Whitley three-pointer.

In the second period, the Bulldogs would only make four shots from the floor as the Colts built an eight-point lead at halftime.

The backcourt of West Stanly was big in the third period as Bruton and Stephen Moses combined for all but two of the Colts’ 15 third-quarter points, building a 12-point lead 43-31.

West Stanly would shoot 11-of-18 from the free-throw line down the stretch to seal the win.

The Colts will play Northwest Cabarrus tonight at 8:30 p.m. in the finals.



JR 10 10 11 20 51

WS 12 16 15 19 62



JR – Elijah Hampton 16, Eric Renfro 12, Bearden 7, Fandl 6, Turner 5, Smotherson 3, Horton 2.

WS – Chauncey Bruton 22, Elliott Drake 16, Moses 8, Whitley 7, Wilson 5, Jackson 2, Caldwell 2.



Contact Charles Curcio at (704) 982-2121 ext. 12 or email at charles@stanlynewspress.com..