Size dooms Wi-Hi, Indians fall in state semifinal

The magical season the Wicomico Indians put on this season ended in anguish, with the Tribe falling to Patterson of Baltimore City, 87-59 at Xfinity Center on the campus at the University of Maryland.

WiHi started off strong, jumping out to an 11-4 lead before taking an 18-14 lead after the first quarter, behind the backcourt of Torrey Brittingham and Nelson Brown. WiHi would be overcome by the Clippers’ size in the second, being outscored 20-9 in the second frame. The Indians were down 34-27 at the break, but Brittingham had already begin to establish himself with 11 points.

The Indians came into the third looking to cut into the lead. They were able to get it to 5 (36-31) before Patterson began to pull away again. They would hold a 53-42 lead going into the fourth, before things started to get ugly. A couple of fastbreak dunks, and alley-oops, and the lead ballooned to 17. Both benches began to clear and Patterson took the lead up even more. In the end, the Clippers won by 28, but everyone in the building knew the game was much closer than the score.

“The score wasn’t indicitive of how the game went, but we didn’t come up here expecting to lose.” said Brittingham. Head coach Butch Waller said, “each one of these kids is successful, and at the end of the day, the season was a success, wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but it was a success.” The Indians finish the season with 22 wins, as well as co-city, conference, and regional championships.