The Nitro Wildcats waltzed into their matchup on Wednesday with eight straight wins but they left with nine. They had just enough and edged Wayne out 55-52. Given Nitro's advantage in MaxPreps' West Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked sixth, while Wayne is ranked 54th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Nitro to victory, but perhaps none more so than Timmy Lovejoy, who scored 12 points along with seven rebounds and four blocks. Lovejoy has been hot recently, having posted two or more blocks the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Caylem Thomas, who scored 12 points along with five assists.
Wayne's loss came despite strong showings from Cooper Adkins and Isaac Meddings. Adkins dropped a double-double on 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Meddings scored 19 points along with five rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Adkins has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Zane Adkins, who scored eight points.
Nitro pushed their record up to 23-2 with that win, which was their 15th straight at home. As for Wayne, they have been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four games, which put a noticeable dent in their 10-13 record this season.
Nitro will square off against Sissonville at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Sissonville focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 15 on Wednesday. Wayne does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
