WILDWOOD – It had been nine years since the Wildwood High School boys basketball team had won a bracket championship at the Boardwalk Basketball Classic.
The Warriors ended that drought emphatically Saturday afternoon.
After falling behind 8-4 to start the game, the Warriors reeled off 18 straight points to take control for good as they blasted MaST Charter (Pa.), 62-25, to win the Bernie McCracken Memorial Bracket championship. The bracket is named for the former successful boys basketball coach at the school.
Wildwood (3-3) used pressure defense to force MaST Charter into 27 turnovers and into a miserable 9 for 41 shooting effort (22 percent) for the game.
The Warriors, conversely, made a rather respectable 21 of 46 shots (45.7 percent) and scored 28 of their 62 points in the paint. They also made 6 of 15 three-point shots.
Tyler Tomlin led the Warriors with 15 points, making 6 of 12 shots overall and 3 of 6 from three-point range. Marquel Matthews added 13 points.
Wildwood star Kyion Flanders needed to take only five shots in the game. He finished with only five points but did manage five assists, five rebounds and three steals.
Wildwood was in such control after the middle of the second quarter that all of its starters played less than 23 minutes of game time.
Wildwood had last won a Boardwalk Classic bracket title in 2008 when it beat Ocean City in the championship game.
— Brian Cunniff