W-S Prep dominates Elkin

By: DOUG MEAD | Special to the Journal
Published: February 23, 2012

Baseball season is still a few weeks away, but Winston-Salem Prep pitched a shutout of sorts on Wednesday night.

Top-seeded Prep held No. 8 seed Elkin scoreless for the second quarter and rolled to 93-39 victory in a second-round Midwest 1-A sectional one game.

The Phoenix outscored the Buckin' Elks 21-0 in the second quarter. Elkin had 16 possessions, turning the ball over eight times and missing eight shots. Prep led 42-12 at the half.

Greg McClinton led Prep (27-1) with 28 points. The only other Phoenix player in double figures was Kerry Campbell with 10, as coach Andre Gould went to his bench early and often.

Prep will play at home against South Davidson in the sectional final on Friday at 7 p.m.

The Phoenix jumped out to a 9-2 lead as the Buckin' Elks missed their first seven shots from the field. Elkin answered with a mini-run, outscoring Prep 10-2 to take a 12-11 lead at the 2:12 mark of the first quarter. Hayden Snow scored eight of Elkin's points during that run on two 3-pointers and two foul shots.

That's when Prep picked up its defensive pressure.

"We were very intense on defense tonight," said McClinton, Prep's star 6-foot-6 forward. "We took a timeout and coach cussed us out. We just came out slow tonight. We've been doing that the last couple of games."

Gould said he had a few words with his team after Elkin took its short-lived lead.

"We had to get them back in focus," he said. "They came in thinking that just because of Elkin's record they wouldn't try and beat us. I told them that every night somebody wants to take your head off. That one-point lead reminded us of that."

Prep forced 22 turnovers, 15 of them in the first half.

Snow led Elkin with 17 points, and Sam Lane added 17.

Prep's pressure didn't allow Elkin to run its offense.

"We understood what they were trying to do to us," Gould said. "We wanted to take away the passing lanes and the cuts they were making."

McClinton dominated the smaller Elks. He did most of his damage close to the basket but also hit two 3-pointers. During 90-second stretch of the second quarter, McClinton scored eight consecutive points on a fast-break dunk, two rebound baskets and two foul shots.

Prep finished with six 3-pointers, two of them by Milce Hughes.