The Wayne Country Day Chargers defeated the Washington Pam Pack 85-62 on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Terry Walls Holiday Invitational.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game, not many fans would have predicted the Pam Pack, with a 5-4 record, would have a chance against the Chargers, who went into the game with a 15-2 record.
However, the Washington players seemed unaware that they were outmatched on the stat sheet this season, and the Pam Pack started off the first quarter by taking an early 9-6 lead.
After falling behind, Wayne Country Day battled back and made the score 11-11 before ending the quarter with an 8-4 run to go ahead 19-15.
Toward the end of the second quarter, the Chargers doubled their lead to eight points thanks to a high-flying dunk from Jordan Cooper.
The dunk seemed to wake up the Pam Pack, and they ended the second quarter with a 6-0 run, which made the score 33-31 in the Chargers’ favor at halftime.
Only up two points at halftime and not having a single player in double digits on the scoresheet, the Chargers needed someone to step up in the second half, and Carlos Vazquez delivered.
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After only scoring two points in the first half, Vasquez put together one of his best offensive quarters of the season by scoring 15 points, which included seven two-pointers and a free throw.
Vasquez also stepped up defensively by contesting the Pam Pack’s shots and grabbing defensive rebounds, so thanks to Vazquez’s strong third quarter, Wayne Country Day led 61-44 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Chargers’ dominance continued as they increased their lead and came away with an 85-62 victory.
Vasquez ended up scoring a game-high 19 points.
Even with the win, Wayne Country Day head coach Jeff Davis said he was disappointed with how the Chargers played defensively, especially in the first half.
“We still didn’t do the job defensively that we need to do,” Davis said. “In the second half, we did pick it up and go on a run, but regardless of who we play (in the tournament final), we are going to have to play better defensively.”