It may have taken overtime to finish the job, but the King Wolves ultimately got the result they hoped for on Wednesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 62-59 victory over Central Catholic. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
It was another big night for Mathias Tinker, who scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and three steals. The matchup was his seventh in a row with at least ten points. Justin Brayard was another key contributor, scoring nine points.
Central Catholic's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Wesley Payne, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 13 rebounds. Payne continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Tyler Wentworth, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 13 rebounds.
The victory got King back to even at 9-9. As for Central Catholic, their loss dropped their record down to 7-4.
King is on the road again on Thursday and play against University at 6:30 p.m. on December 28th. One thing working in University's favor is that they have posted big point totals every time they've taken the court this season. Central Catholic will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against Priory at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. Priory will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 678th, while Central Catholic is ranked 232nd).
