Warren Central played its archrival tough for a quarter.

Then Vicksburg High’s talent took over.

The Gators’ abundant speed and shot-making ability was too much for the outmanned Vikings to handle, and fifth-ranked Vicksburg rolled to a 70-43 rout before a packed house at WC on Saturday afternoon.

It was Vicksburg’s 10th straight victory in the series. Warren Central has not won since the 2005-06 season.

Vicksburg improved to 15-2 overall, and 2-1 in Division 4-6A. Warren Central slipped to 2-15 overall and is 0-3 in the division after losing twice to the Gators and once to Clinton.

“They just have better talent than us,” Warren Central coach Jesse Johnson said. “Turnovers again are killing us. We would play well in spurts and then start turning it over. I think the problem now, is we’re not deep enough. We get tired and just lose focus.”

Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson wasn’t too happy with his team’s performance, either.

“We aren’t satisfied with this,” Robinson said. “We could’ve moved the ball a lot better than we did. We just never got into any rhythm on offense.”

Warren Central led 8-4 early but the Gators got a 3-pointer from Dominique Brown and a putback from Kelsey Howard to go ahead to stay, 12-11, at the end of the first quarter.

The Gators then found some rhythm in the second quarter. Roosevelt Harris, Kiente Ross, Chris Miller and Howard each scored two baskets to get the team off and running. Warren Central, meanwhile, had six turnovers and scored just five points in the quarter to fall behind 31-16 at the half.

It only got worse for the Vikings in the second half. Junior Mychal Ammons scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds to help Vicksburg expand its lead to 46-24.

Ammons and Howard played well into the fourth quarter. Howard, who struggled with his shot through three quarters, finished up with a three-point play and a four-point play in the final quarter to cap an 18-point effort. The four-point play gave the Gators their largest lead, 66-33.

Ammons had 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots for the Gators. Harris finished with 12 points. In all, the Gators had 10 players score at least one point.

Warren Central was led by B.J. Williams with 10 points, while Louis Carson and John Hood scored eight apiece.

Vicksburg will have a chance to avenge one of its losses on Tuesday when it hosts Greenville-Weston.

Warren Central will play Natchez at home on Tuesday night.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com