2018 City of Palms: DC Woodrow Wilson vs. St. Louis Vashon

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Two big city programs meeting in a Consolation semi-final.  It was our first time seeing Wilson, but we are familiar with the Mitchell twins as they played at Montverde Academy last season.  Vashon was impressive yesterday, and we looked forward to seeing them play again, especially Cam’Ron Fletcher.

Fletcher opened the game with a quick basket to give Vashon an early lead, but Wilson scored the next five points.  Kobe Clark got Vashon back to within one with a jumper from the mid-range but Dimingus Stevens hit three for Wilson to maintain the lead.  Vashon answered with a three and a bit later, after a putback from Phillip Russell, the score was tied at nine with 3:24 left in the quarter.  Makhi Mitchell hit a three for Wilson to break the tie and after Fletcher hit a pair of free throws for Vashon, the score after one quarter of play had Wilson up by a point, 12-11.

Back to back threes by Fletcher gave Vashon a 17-11 lead with 1:30 gone in the second quarter.  Makhel Mitchell finally broke the ice for Wilson to get them back to within three but Fletcher again hit from beyond the arc for Vashon.  Romero Hutchinson responded with a three for Wilson to make the score 20-17 midway thru the period in favor of Vashon.  That lead grew to eight after a three from Russell and a transition basket from Fletcher.  Makhi Mitchell scored inside for Wilson to get them back on the board.  Another three from Fletcher pushed Vashon’s lead to nine at 28-19 with 2:18 left in the half, but Wilson countered with a free throw from Makhi Mitchell and a transition basket from Stevens to end the half down just six at 28-22.

Vashon open the third quarter with a transition slam from Donyae McCaskill, but Wilson ripped off a 6-0 run to draw within two at 30-28 with 6:30 left to play in the period.  Russell scored inside for Vashon to get the lead back to four, but then Wilson put together a 12-2 run, mostly due to the play of the Mitchell twins, to go up by seven at 40-33 with 2:32 left in the third.  Vashon would re-collect itself and close the quarter with four points to get back to within three at 40-37.

Vashon went on a run to start the fourth quarter, 6-1, to re-take the lead at 43-41 with just under six minutes left to play.  Makhi Mitchell put back a miss to tie the score at 43.  The game would see-saw back and forth for the next few minutes as Vashon would take a lead then Wilson would tie the score.  With just under two minutes to play, Mario McKinney scored inside to give Vashon a 50-48 lead.  After a missed free throw by Wilson, Russell of Vashon connected on two free throws to push the lead to four.  Makhel Mitchell completed a three point play to get to within one at 52-51 with twenty seconds to play.  McCaskill of Vashon was fouled and hit one of two free throws with thirteen seconds left but Wilson was unable to execute a final set play at the end.  Vashon holds on to win by a score of 53-51.

Fletcher led Vashon with 23 points.  Russell added 12 and McKinney added 12 points.

Makhel Russell paced Wilson with 15 points while brother Makhi added 14 points and Stevens finished with 13 points.