Wylie senior Camden Love (4) drives past two McKinney North defenders for a layup on Nov. 25 at the Montgomery Center. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media
By Art Stricklin
ROYSE CITY – Wylie’s Darian Romano hit a clutch 3-point basket with 20 seconds left, and Theo Allen closed the game with four straight made free throws as the Pirates rallied to defeat Mount Pleasant 60-56 in the afternoon game of the Royse City Holiday Classic on Thursday.
The Pirates (6-6) easily defeated Sherman 75-42 in the first round of the tournament but trailed almost the entire second half against Mount Pleasant before coming back in the closing seconds for their second victory of the day.
“We made it interesting, that’s for sure,” said Wylie head coach Stephen Pearce. “One thing I know about our senior class is they are resilient and don’t ever give up. We have lost some close games like this, so it’s good that we found a way to win this game.”
Romano hit two big 3-point shots in the third quarter to keep the Pirates close before stepping up in the fourth quarter to give his team the late win in their first Royse City tournament appearance.
“I think our guys felt they were getting outworked and outhustled in the second half and had to come back and correct that,” Pearce said. “We are looking to use this tournament to get our rotations right and players ready for district play. Who’s got the stamina to play when we hit district?”
Romano led all scorers with 17 points in the afternoon game, Chase Hughes had 12 and Allen added nine.
The first half of the afternoon game for Wylie was a back-and-forth affair with both teams, who rarely play each other, taking turns grabbing the lead. Wylie led 15-10 after one quarter, but Mount Pleasant rallied late to grab the halftime advantage, 24-20.
Brennen Shaw tied it up for Wylie at 21-21 midway through the second quarter, but Mount Pleasant came back with a fast-break basket. That was a common theme in the first half, with the Tigers matching and exceeding everything the Pirates attempted to do.
In the morning game against Sherman, Wylie took an early lead against the outmatched Bearcats and never looked back. They led 23-5 after the first quarter and 52-19 at halftime.
Camden Love had 15 points, while Romano had 11 and Tre Pierce added 10.
“It probably wasn’t their (Sherman’s) best team, but we got what we needed for the games today,” Pearce said.
Wylie lost 69-55 to eventual tournament champion Plano East in its first game on the second day of the event but rebounded to earn a 62-52 win over Round Rock in its next game.
The Pirates began district play Tuesday at South Garland and are scheduled to host Naaman Forest this Friday at 7 p.m. at the Montgomery Center.
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