On January 17, 2024, the Compton Tarbabes battled against the Wilson Bruins in a conference game. Wilson got a big lead early that was capped off by a 34-13 advantage in the 2nd quarter that helped Wilson win in dominant fashion over Compton by a final score of 98-57. This was caused by a flurry of precise passing and a lot of Compton turnovers that gave Wilson easy baskets at the rim.
Players such as Freshman Andre Smith and Sophomore Jeremiah Graham led the Bruins to a victory with 37 points combined due to Smith’s dominant post scoring and rebounding and Graham’s superb shooting from beyond the arc. For Compton, they were led by the 2 leading scorers in the Moore League, 1st being Oshon Mitchell and 2nd being Jashon Finley. When asked about Oshon Mitchell, Wilson Junior Erik Michell responded by saying, “We plan on containing him by playing hard and communicating on defense.”
“Fans should expect a fast paced game, a lot of trapping, and we plan on trapping them with our full court press as we did on our first game that we played them this year.” Junior Karim Caldwell said. This resulted in a lot of forced turnovers which was one of the turning points in the game. This was a huge game for the Bruins for the standings in Moore League. Going into the game, Wilson came in tied for 3rd alongside Cabrillo and Jordan at 3-3 in league play.
Senior Niles Rivers responded to this by saying, “This definitely adds motivation to this game, especially for the Cabrillo game. That game is on senior night and it’ll be great to get them back and especially during our last home game.” He says this because of the Bruins’ previous game before this when they traveled to Cabrillo, a game in which the Jaguars outlasted the Bruins 54-50 in what is turning out to be a pivotal game in Moore League standings.
However, there is good news for the Bruins. As Rivers said, the Bruins will get another crack at them on Senior Night at home and more importantly, with the Bruins beating Compton for the second time and with a Cabrillo loss to Lakewood the same night, the Bruins moved ahead of the Jaguars by a game. The Bruins are now 4-3 in league and the Jaguars are now 3-4 in Moore League.
This moves Wilson into a tie with Jordan for 3rd in Moore League after the Panthers beat Millikan 83-66 the same night as well to also improve to 4-3. Just for reference, the Bruins do have the tiebreaker over them because of their meeting on January 10 in which the Bruins beat the Panthers 85-70. However, the Bruins do play Jordan one more time this year on January 30th.
There is still a lot of basketball left to be played and the standings can change frequently. The next game for the Bruins will be on the road against league rival Millikan Rams, a team that the Bruins have beaten already this season. Let’s continue to cheer on our Bruins as they continue to march closer and closer to the end of the season.
