Behind a big second half from Isaiah White and a collective defensive effort down the stretch, Centennial shook off a slow start Monday to win its opening game at the Liberty Holiday Tournament, 58-44, over Northwest.
White ended up scoring 18 of his game-high 26 points over the final two quarters for an Eagles' team that was playing without its top forward Tom Brown (sick).
"He's critical for us and, like I said earlier this year, we expect him to contend for Player of the Year in the county. That's how much confidence we have in his abilities," Centennial coach Chad Hollwedel said. "When he gets going, he's extremely balanced like you saw today. He can score at the basket, he can shoot and can dribble to both sides. In the absence of Tom, we needed even more from him and Chad (Strothers) and I thought they both stepped up."
Strothers ended up adding 11 points for Centennial (8-0), which found itself locked in a tie game at the half following a pair of late jumpers from Northwest's Justin Woodyard (13 points) and Calvin Lee (12 points).
The Eagles had raced out if the gates to a quick 15-8 lead in the opening six minutes, punctuated by a dunk from White, but the offense stalled after that.
Northwest (3-4) began taking control on the glass and Centennial's shots stopped falling. Having White forced to the bench with two fouls early in the second quarter, did not help matters.
"I was disappointed in our energy and I thought we looked flat, especially in the second quarter. And that's no discredit to Northwest, but we were missing our usual emotion," said Hollwedel, whose squad had a week off since its previous game.
But out of the break, White asserted himself to help create some separation. He scored eight of the Eagles first 10 points in the third quarter and then that seemed to energize his teammates as well.
Min An (6 points) Elijah White and Javon Smith each made big baskets as part of a push that opened up a 52-35 lead by the midway point of the fourth quarter. Throw in some strong defense from Kevin Wilson and Connor Clemens, and the Eagles had gotten themselves back to playing their brand of basketball.
"I thought we got some great minutes from our kids off the bench today. Michael Merkey, Javon, Min An all played well and really helped in critical times," Hollwedel said. "Then when you add in Kevin Wilson doing a great job helping out with the defensive rebounding … I thought we really stepped things up across the board in the second half."
Northwest never got closer than 11 points down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
On his way to his gaudy point total, White hit a trio of threes and made seven foul shots.
Centennial will play South Carroll in the championship game of their bracket on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
Centennial 58, Northwest 44
C (8-0): I. White 26, Strothers 11, An 6, Clemens 6, E. White 4, Wilson 2, Smith 2, Merkey 1.
NW (3-4): Woodyard 12, Lee 12, Blakapia 8, Richardson 6, Zamena 4, Gaines 1.
Half: 24-24.