HOWELL’S COVE — TC Central’s basketball team dominated Winterboro 62-37 in area play Saturday night in front of a packed house. It was the second time this season the Fighting Tigers have topped Winterboro after falling to the Bulldogs on the road Jan. 13.

“It always feels good to get a win over Winterboro,” said TC Central head coach David Wright. “The guys played hard at home and I think they were more relaxed tonight. I’m proud of the guys. They hung tight, stayed with the game plan and made it happen.”

TC Central improved to 14-7 overall and 6-1 in the area with the win, while Winterboro dropped to 8-13, 7-2.

“TCC gave us what we earned tonight — a nice loss,” said Winterboro head coach Sheroderick Smith. “They hustled and played with pride. I think when you rebuild you’re going to have setbacks, and we decided not to do the things that got us here. There are no excuses. I thought we were prepared.”

Tevin Garrett led the way for TC Central with 22 points. Damien Staples added 14 and Tyler Cross scored nine.

Josh Taylor scored 15 points in the loss for Winterboro. Nick Leonard scored eight, all in the first half.

The Bulldogs shot 14-for-64 from the field.

Staples and TC Central got off a to a quick 7-0 lead in the opening quarter. The Bulldogs had no answer for Garrett under the basket, as the senior put up eight points in the quarter.

Taylor broke Winterboro’s 5-minute scoring drought with a free throw, and Leonard hit two 3-pointers in the closing minutes of the quarter to cut TC Central’s lead down to 13-7.

TC Central led 16-7 heading into the second quarter. The Fighting Tigers increased their lead to 21-7 following Crystlye Stockdale’s triple.

Damien Simmons hit a long 2-pointer o to go along with a pair of free throws, cutting the lead to 10 midway through the quarter.

The Fighting Tigers responded with a 7-0 run capped by another 3-pointer from Staples to take a commanding 29-11 lead in the closing minutes of the second quarter.

Another Stockdale 3-pointer gave TC Central a 34-17 lead with less than a minute before the break. The Bulldogs closed out the half with a 4-0 to make the score 34-21.

TC Central put the game out of reach in the third quarter by coming out of the break with an 11-0 run to take a 24-point lead.

“They were transition baskets,” Wright said. “If we can handle the pressure and tempo, we can have spurts like that.”

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