Warren Central’s Andy Anderton (22) skies for a rebound during the second half of the Vikings’ 63-40 win over Ridgeland on Monday. (Meredith SpencerThe Vicksburg Post)

[12/7/04]Rod Davidson’s homecoming was anything but special Monday night.

The former Warren Central assistant, now the head coach at Ridgeland, saw his team shoot a dismal 29 percent and get dominated down low in a 63-40 loss to the Vikings (6-5).

Chico Hunter led three Vikings in double figures with 19 points, while Anthony Lewis scored 11 and Andy Anderton came off the bench to score 10.

“They played good defense, you can’t take that away from them,” said Davidson, whose team fell to 10-2 on the season. “They got after us with a tough man-to-man. We gave up too many layups and you’re not going to be successful like that.”

Warren Central, which was coming off three straight defeats, including a loss to archrival Vicksburg on Friday, put the game away in the second quarter with a 22-point outburst.

Anderton hit 5 of 5 shots from the field in the second quarter as the Vikings built a 35-19 advantage at the break.

“I tell our guys every day that when we get good post play, we’ll be hard to beat,” WC coach Jesse Johnson said. “You have to have an inside presence to be successful, and tonight we got that.”

WC extended the lead to 21 at the end of the third quarter. Hunter scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half. He also grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds, had three steals and two blocks.

Ridgeland combined to score 13 points in the second and third quarters, then made a small run in the fourth quarter well after the game was decided.

“We didn’t make our free throws or block out well at all,” Davidson said. “Their post players might have had career nights on us tonight.”

Kenyonna Davis scored 12 points to lead Ridgeland. The Titans converted only 16 of 55 shots in the game and turned the ball over 23 times.

Warren Central will be in action again on Friday when the Vikings travel to Natchez for the Division 6-5A opener.

(G) WC 64, Ridgeland 50

Ridgeland’s Myesha Johnson controlled the paint, scoring 26 points Monday night. Unfortunately for the Lady Titans, the rest of the team managed only 24.

Warren Central bounced back from a championship loss to Provine to pound Ridgeland.

“We knew Myesha Johnson was going to be tough to stop because she’s a Dandy Dozen and played in the junior All-Star game,” WC coach Donny Fuller said. “She’s so much bigger than anyone we’ve got, it’s not even funny.”

Carla Latham paced WC with 13 points, while Brittany Banks, Kristin Linson and Shondalyn Rogers each scored 10.

WC (8-3) led 32-27 at halftime.