This senior guard’s return from injury gives Wakefield a playoff boost over Knightdale
Knightdale traveling as the No. 18 seed to face No. 15 seed Wakefield may not stack up as a marquee matchup in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A East Regional boys basketball tournament game, but don’t try and tell Wakefield’s Brennon Rogers and his teammates this wasn’t a big game.
Rogers, a starting guard hobbled by a high-ankle sprain, played his first full game in four weeks. He came off the bench with 12 points to spark the Wolverines to a 56-47 victory Tuesday night over their Northern Athletic Conference rival.
“I went down early in the year and didn’t get to play conference game so I didn’t get conference honors,” said Rogers, a 5-10, 150-pound senior “But I knew I could come back and help my team in the state playoffs. That’s what matters – the big run down the stretch.”
Wakefield improved to 17-9 and advanced to the second round to face No. 2 seed Leesville Road (19-7), which had a first-round bye. Wakefield lost at Leesville Road 82-79 on Dec. 3.
Rogers’ points were all on three-pointers, with two of them from NBA range as the Wolverines finished with a balanced effort. Senior Tommy Petuccione scored 17 points with five three-pointers and junior Harper Strickland added 15 with one three-pointer and two fourth-quarter dunks, one on the follow of a miss and the other to finish a fast break. Vernon Fraley added five points and 10 rebounds and Jaxson Brown had five points and five assists.
“At any point all of us can get hot,” Petuccione said. “It depends on the night. If we’re all hitting, I don’t many teams that can beat us.”
Knightdale (16-11) was led by Nick Boone with 13 points and Ayinde Taylor with nine.
Wakefield’s 6-0 run
With both teams playing a zone defense in the first half, the ebb and flow of the game was based on who mixed in a three-point field with moving the ball around the court for the open shot.
Knightdale went on an 8-3 run late in the first quarter when Taylor and Boone were fed passes for 15-footers from the free throw line and Chrishaun Mitchell and Omar Carabello buried three-pointers. Knightdale led 19-11 early in the second quarter, but Wakefield’s 6-0 run prevented the Knights from pulling away.
The playoff game was the fourth time the Northern Athletic Conference members met this year. The teams split their regular-season contests, but Knightdale beat the Wolverines three days ago in the conference tournament.
“Knightdale came out strong in the first half,” Wakefield coach Garrett Stevens said. “We made some adjustments and picked up our defense. Some guys stepped up and hit some shots. Tommy hit some shots and getting Brennon back was huge for us.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 12:38 AM with the headline "This senior guard’s return from injury gives Wakefield a playoff boost over Knightdale."
