Winter Park Wildcats on a roll

Wednesday night the Winter Park Wildcats boys basketball team was on the verge of tying its win total for last season — and doing it three weeks into this season.

At 5-4 the Wildcats already had shaken off the epic collapse that followed their 2-0 start for the 2011-12 season. And with two wins at big tournaments so far, they’ve shown they can win against tough teams.

And against Oak Ridge on Dec. 10, they showed they can score big, dropping more points into the basket than they had all season in a shootout that ended in an 82-73 loss.

And that included spreading the ball around nearly evenly among five players. Jay Wimbley led the way in scoring yet again, posting 21 points and nailing 64 percent of his shots while ignominiously earning a Shaq-like 33 percent free throw percentage. He also grabbed 12 boards in the contest to lead the team on defense. On defense Kyle Brown again shined, grabbing seven turnovers to lead the team.

Friday night the Wildcats will look to keep their reversal of fortune going with a showdown at Ocoee. It won’t be easy, with the Knights sporting a 6-1 record so far, with their only loss of the season being by a margin of two points. That tips off at 7:30 p.m.

After that the Wildcats will get a break before facing off against Lake Nona at home. The Lions are 4-5 so far this season, by far their best start in team history after going 0-18, 1-25 and 6-19 in their first three seasons, having never at any point had a winning record. This will be the first time the two teams have ever met. That game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 18.