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Sulphur Springs senior Lamodrick Johnson goes for a dunk during the home opener against Tyler Legacy.
Johnson posts 11 points in 4th quarter
The Sulphur Springs Wildcats hosted 6A Tyler Legacy Saturday for their season opener. The Wildcats looked to pick up where they left off last year, after making a playoff run to the regional quarterfinals.
The Wildcats got off to a strong start, with their offense firing on all cylinders in the opening frame. Trailing by one, senior guard Boo Wilkerson made a pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give his team a 16-13 lead. Both 3-pointers were assisted by senior Lamodrick Johnson. On the final possession of the quarter, junior Parker Whisenhunt knocked down a 3-pointer, assisted by Wilkerson, and the Wildcats took a 19-18 lead into the first quarter.
The Sulphur Springs offense came to a halt in the second quarter, managing to score just four points in the frame. The four points came on an offensive putback by Wilkerson, and a layup by Johnson. The Wildcats entered the locker room trailing, 31-23.
Johnson got things started in the second half, scoring the first points on a layup in traffic. The Wildcats offense picked up a bit in the frame but they weren’t quite able to cut the deficit. Wilkerson found Whisenhunt for a layup on the final possession of the frame, and Sulphur Springs was able to cut the score to 47-35 entering the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats started the final frame strong, scoring on the first two possessions to make it a single-digit game. Johnson had a very strong fourth quarter, putting up 11 points in the final frame alone. In the final minute of the game, the Wildcats made a huge play, recovering their own offensive rebounding, and kicking it out to Wilkerson who knocked down his fifth 3-pointer of the night. His shot put the Wildcats down by 2 points with just 17.4 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, Tyler Legacy was able to make both of their free throws, and the Wildcats lost by a final score of 65-61.
Johnson led the way offensively, scoring 20 points, 11 of which came during the fourth-quarter comeback. Right behind him was Wilkerson, who had 19 points in the season debut. Fifteen of Wilkerson’s 19 points came via the 3-ball. Sophomore Kordrick
Sophomore Kordrick Turner had a strong game as well, finishing with 14 points. Nine of his 14 points came in the second half.
Other scorers for the Wildcats were Whisenhunt, who had five points, and Malique Cole, who had three points.
Sulphur Springs travels to McKinney Boyd Friday and will return home Monday, Nov. 23 to face Sherman. The freshman team will begin at 1 p.m. with the junior varsity and varsity to follow.