Montana Wheeler leads Houston Christian past Episcopal in season finale
Montana #Montana
Houston Christian sophomore point guard Montana Wheeler, younger brother of Kentucky’s Sahvir Wheeler, is no stranger to the big stage.
As a youngster, Montana saw firsthand how his brother led the Mustangs to their first of two straight championships. As a freshman, Montana recorded the school’s first quadruple-double and started making a name for himself.
The Mustangs were crowned 2022-23 SPC South Zone Champions and moved closer to their ultimate goal as Wheeler scored 22 points, and Carter Seeliger added 18 points, to lead state-ranked Houston Christian past host Episcopal with a 68-60 victory in the regular-season finale on Friday night.
“It’s just another step of what our long-term goal is,” coach Ron Crandall said. “The job’s not done. We want to be at our best. We feel like if we play our best, we got a really good chance to win.”
Houston Christian, the No. 2 team in the latest Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ private school boys rankings, improved to 28-4 overall, 7-0 in the district play.
Episcopal, the No. 8 team and reigning SPC Champions, dropped to 14-15, 6-1 after suffering its first district loss of the year.
Seeliger began the fourth quarter with a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Wheeler before Dasean Brodie scored five points in a row for Episcopal to make it 62-55. But the Mustangs held the Knights to a couple of points the rest of the way.
Wheeler, who already holds seven offers from the likes of Texas A&M, Kansas State, LSU and St. John’s, scored 18 points in the first half and added four more in the second half. He was coming off a 34-point performance against Kinkaid and is averaging 26.4 points per game over the past five contests.
Crandall said Wheeler is their floor general.
“Just gets guys in spots, is able to make plays around the baskets, find guys that are open,” Crandall said.
Houston Christian led 22-16 after a quarter of play. Wheeler and Seeliger each scored seven points while Justin Begg had 12 points for the Knights.
The Mustangs increased their lead to 44-34 at the half. Begg led all scorers at halftime with 21 points and had a trio of 3-pointers in each quarter. Wheeler scored four points in the third quarter and Chance Thalmann added six points to help extend the Mustangs’ lead to 60-49 heading into the final quarter.
Tough competition has prepared the Mustangs for this moment, Crandall said.
“We were able to push forward and get that lead and then just maintain that. …I attribute that to our defensive scheme,” Crandall said.
Houston Christian is four seasons removed from winning back-to-back championships, both over Episcopal. The Mustangs extended their win streak to nine games after dropping two of three to start the year.
Episcopal, which won last year’s title over Greenhill, was riding a 10-game win streak before falling to Houston Christian for the third straight season.
“The win was important because we wanted to make sure we secured the best seed possible for us and we feel like we probably did that tonight,” Crandall said. “Every time Houston Christian and Episcopal play there’s just a different level of energy.”
Thalmann and CJ Barnes both finished with nine points for Houston Christian and Christopher Adlam added eight points. Begg scored a game-high 25 points for Episcopal and Brodie added 22.
Houston Christian and Episcopal will both start postseason play next week. The SPC boys championships will be held Feb. 9-11 in the Dallas area.
“All that will shake up in the next few days, we’ll figure out who we’re facing,” Crandall said.