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Wyvratt comes up big in Ringgold victory

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COAL CENTER – Luke Wyvratt scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Wednesday to lead Ringgold to a 62-48 non-section win at California.

After the game, the senior spoke about his career night and what led up to it.

“I had a rough practice yesterday so I knew I had to come in with a good mental (outlook) and I made my shots,” he said. “My teammates did a good job in our sets of putting me in position to score.”

Wyvratt recorded a double-double as he shared the team-high in rebounds of 10 with Ben Lawrence.

Ringgold coach Phil Pergola was pleased with Wyvratt.

“We took advantages of the mismatches we had in the second half and Wyvratt played a tremendous game running up and down the floor,” Pergola said. “It is a tribute to his teammates because they got him the ball.

“We told the team at halftime that some games belong to the guards, some belong to the big men and tonight was a big man game and to get him the ball.”

California coach Aaron Balla was impressed with Wyvratt and Ringgold as a whole.

“He is a big kid who can play ball; he did tonight and they are a really good team,” he said. “We battled and there is room for improvement.

“We definitely have adjustments to make for our section opener and have some things to fine tune.”

Ringgold (2-1) jumped to a 9-0 lead, but a Payton Conte three-pointer finally got the Trojans on the board with 5:16 to go in the quarter.

California (2-2) closed the frame on an 11-2 run to tie the game heading into the second quarter.

The Trojans grabbed the momentum in the second and it began when Malik Ramsey, their leading scorer, finally got on the board with 6:01 to go.

Ramsey, who was blanketed most of the night by Ringgold’s Chris Peccon, scored 11 points in the quarter that saw the Trojans open the frame with a 10-4 run. When Ramsey hit a three-pointer with three minutes to go in the half, California had its biggest lead of the game at 24-17.

Ringgold went on a 7-2 run to close the half and, when Wyratt hit a layup just before the halftime buzzer, the Trojan lead was trimmed to a basket, 26-24.

Wyvratt took over in the third quarter and he scored 11 points as Ringgold outscored California, 18-11, to take a 42-37 into the fourth.

While Peccon put in a tremendous defensive effort on Ramsey most of the night, his shot wasn’t falling early. The senior had one point through three quarters, then he exploded for 11 points in the fourth and made shots on four straight possessions to help the Rams pull away.

“We knew he would get his points and maybe the crowd was bothering him early,” Pergola said. “This was a nice atmosphere.”

Demetrius Butler scored 17 for Ringgold and Ramsey finished with 23 for the Trojans.

Ringgold shot 51% (22 of 43) from the floor and had 16 turnovers. California shot 36% (12-33) and had 14 turnovers.

Prior to the game, California athletic director Chris Minerd surprised Pergola and current Ringgold assistant Bruno Pappasergi by honoring them just before the national anthem. Pergola and Pappasergi are the two most recent California head coaches prior to Balla with Pergola winning 136 games and Pappasergi 50.

The crowd gave the duo a standing ovation that lasted more than 20 seconds.

“That was very nice,” Pergola said. “We did not expect that. I have been gone seven years, Coach Papp has been gone three and it was very nice and professional.”

California hosts Carmichaels in its Section 2-AA opener Friday and Ringgold hosts West Allegheny in a non-section game at 1 p.m. Saturday.

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