With a favorable schedule and a streaking team, Warren Central boys basketball coach Bruce Robinson figured his team could make a lot of headway toward the Region 4-6A championship in the first two weeks of January.

His faith has been very much rewarded.

Jalen Glass and Jabari Bowman scored 14 points apiece, Daniel Smothers and Anthony Lumpkin had 10 each, and Warren Central beat Provine 54-51 on Tuesday to strengthen its grip on first place in Region 4-6A at the midpoint of the schedule.

The Vikings (11-9, 3-0 Region 4-6A) are 1 ½ games ahead of both Clinton and Provine (12-8, 1-1) after sweeping all three region opponents at home in a span of 11 days. They’ve won four in a row and seven of eight overall since Christmas.

WC will go on the road to play its last three region games in the span of a week from Jan. 25 to Feb. 1.

“It’s huge. If you’ve got a chance to win this district you’ve got to win your home games,” Robinson said. “Just coming out of the JPS Tournament we’re looking at the schedule and saying this is an important stretch. You’ve got these home games and we were fortunate to win in the JPS Tournament, so let’s build some momentum up to win this one against Provine, who is relentless. So to get this one at home, we needed it.”

Ro’Darien Pendleton and Shermontis Mitchell scored 13 points apiece for Provine, and Deion Smith scored 15 in a nip-and-tuck game that went down to the wire. Provine had two shots in the final 13.5 seconds and missed both, the last a halfcourt heave at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime.

“We’re not as focused as I’d like. We’re still making some mistakes. To win one when we know we’re not where we need to be, we’ve got to correct that. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Robinson said.

(G) Warren Central 59, Provine 54
Aniya Sanders scored 16 of her game-high 28 points in the second half as the Warren Central Lady Vikes (6-10, 1-2 Region 4-6A) beat Provine (6-12, 0-2) for a needed victory on Tuesday.

Warren Central snapped a four-game losing streak and moved a half-game in front of Provine for the No. 3 seed in the region tournament.

Sanders had her seventh consecutive game with at least 20 points. She scored nine in the third quarter to help the Lady Vikes erase most of a 31-21 halftime deficit, then went 5-for-8 at the foul line in the fourth quarter as they pulled ahead.

Zykerri Segrest and Ashlea Rainey helped her out with 12 points apiece. In the second half, Rainey hit two 3-pointers and Segrest scored 11 points to spur the comeback.

Debreanna Quinn led Provine with 16 points and Jania Hines scored 14.

Warren Central will host Columbus Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

(B) St. Aloysius 60, Central Hinds 37
Alvin Brown led a balanced effort with 11 points as St. Aloysius beat Central Hinds.
Eleven players scored for St. Al, with five netting at least eight points each.

Carrington Busari and Braxton Chewning scored eight apiece, Isaiah Thomas had 10 and Trinye Brown had nine.

Led by Thomas and Trinye Brown, St. Al’s bench scored 28 points.

Ross Mitchell led Central Hinds with 14 points and Ranson Oakes scored eight.

St. Al will play at Porter’s Chapel Thursday at 6 p.m.

(G) Porter’s Chapel 29, Riverfield 28
Fayth McDaniel hit a free throw for Porter’s Chapel Academy’s only point in the fourth quarter, and that was enough to allow the Lady Eagles to eke out a victory over Riverfield Academy.

McDaniel finished with four points, and Brittnee Martin scored 12 — all on four 3-pointers in the first quarter — for PCA.

The Lady Eagles led 28-22 heading into the fourth quarter but did not make a field goal and were just 1-for-3 from the free throw line. They were 11-for-39 (28.2 percent) shooting for the game.

Taylor Hixon led Riverfield with 10 points.