by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
Forget Where’s Waldo? Hermitage coach Joe Coulter was going to start Where’s Winston?
Right before he put out a search party for Manny Winston, his talented junior poured in all 12 of his points in a 29-point fourth quarter that keyed the Panthers’ 70-59 victory over St. Christopher’s.
The Panthers advanced to the championship of the Henrico Holiday Hoops Tournament, sponsored by DigitalSports. They’ll face Mills Godwin at 7:15 Friday night for the hardware. The Saints will play Henrico at 5:30 for third place.
That bid was in doubt as St. Christopher’s led most of the contest before going down 41-39 at the end of the third quarter.
That’s when Hermitage (4-5) went on a 13-0 run keyed by Winston and star Wesley Simmons.
Simmons knocked down a short jumper with sick hangtime. Then Winston found Simmons in the Saints’ backdoor for two more.
Then Simmons, who scored a game-high 21 points, played playmaker, rebounding a Saint miss and leading the break to find Duan Perez-Means (10 points) for a bucket.
Winston got back into the act a possession later.
He’s struggled from the land of trey all season, but knocked in a dagger from the left corner on a feed from Gabe McNeal (20 points, 10 in each half). Hermitage’s bench went nuts.
“I had to introduce Manny to the team after the game,” joked Coulter. “He stayed positive and kept working hard.”
Said McNeal of Winston: “It feels real good. He’s got a good stroke. All shooting is is confidence. He thinks he found his stroke back.”
Simmons added another score and the damage had been done. The Panthers stroked free throws down the stretch to keep the Saints at bay.
“We played well for a short time,” Saints coach Chris Brown said. “We can’t give up 50 in a half and expect to win. I give Joe and his staff a lot of credit. They did some different things in the second half with ball screens. The whole tone of the game changed.”
Hermitage was playing St. Christopher’s pace in the first half, and it worked for the private school.
Their methodical offense was getting looks for Charlie McCann, who delivered 19 points and five 3-pointers on the night.
Teddy Mitchell (14 points) was hot as well. His baseline jumper gave St. Chris its largest lead at 21-14.
The Saints were denying Simmons the leather the whole half as Wednesday night’s hero Mac Jennings played wonderful defense.
With Simmons quiet, McNeal picked up the slack slashing into the Saints defense. That was before Simmons got going, which found Winston.
“You know he’s a great player,” Brown said of Simmons. “He just plays and you love it.”
St. Christopher’s 17 10 12 20 – 59
Hermitage 13 7 21 29 – 70
St. Christopher’s: Mitchell 14, McCann 19, Vozenilek 0, Klein 0, Jackson 0, Priddy 8, Hardy 0, Dalton 0, Jennings 4, Hart 6, Erickson 8. Totals: 24 2-2 59. 3-point goals: McCann 5, Priddy 2, Erickson 2.
Hermitage (4-5): McNeal 20, Winston 12, Blount 2, Simmons 21, Lewis 0, Norman 0, Clayton 5, Parker 0, Perez-Means 10, Kinard 0. Totals: 24 20-24 70. 3-point goals: McNeal, Winston.
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