The University City High (UC) Centurions got a big 51-48 win over the Mission Bay Buccaneers in the Western League men’s basketball opener for both ballclubs at UC last week.

Behind the performances of senior Devante Pritchett and junior Riley Dickard, the Centurions opened the ballgame by getting on the scoreboard first and jumping out to an early 8-5 lead.

UC got baskets from Dickard and junior Quinn Skillin to extend its edge to 14-11 at the end of the first quarter, but Mission Bay outscored the Centurions 8-4 in the second quarter to take a 19-18 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

After intermission, Dickard, Skillin and fellow juniors Brendan Smith and Michael Sohikish scored two, three, four and seven points, respectively, in the third quarter, as UC went on a 16-7 run to create a 34-26 cushion.

That’s when Buccaneer junior Isaiah Milan went to work, outscoring the entire Centurion squad 9-0 all by himself and giving Mission Bay a slim 35-34 lead at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Buccaneer junior Jared Kane converted five baskets (including two free throws and a three-pointer) and junior Andre Petties-Wilson added four points of his own, but it wasn’t quite enough as UC got six points apiece from Skillin and Sohikish and five from Pritchett in the fourth period to seal the victory.

Sohikish led the Centurions with a team-high 15 points, plus three assists and was followed in the scoring column by Skillin (11 points, eight rebounds, three assists), Pritchett (11 points, eight rebounds), Dickard (six points, four assists), Smith (six points) and senior Kalid Ahmed (two points).

In another Western League contest, UC suffered a tough 75-28 loss to the Cathedral Catholic Dons at Cathedral on Jan. 11.

The Centurions were led by the play of Pritchett who finished with a team-best 10 points on the evening.

With the defeat, UC saw its record fall to 6-9 overall and 1-1 in Western League play on the young season.