CENTRE – Cherokee County junior forward Colin Perry is adjusting nicely to being on the Warrior varsity basketball roster.

A B-team player last season, Perry is used to be being a go-to guy. On Saturday night in the Warriors’ opening-round game of the Cherokee Invitational, Perry scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 72-47 win over Collinsville.

With the win, the Warriors (5-3) will take on Piedmont in the tournament semifinals on Monday at 4:30 p.m. Piedmont defeated Jacksonville Christian in other tournament action on Saturday.

But the story of the Warriors’ latest game was Perry. Eighteen of his 22 points came in the second half, with most of those coming off of Panther turnovers.

“About half of my baskets came off of great passes,” Perry said. “You just have to be in the right place at the right time. I caught fire there for a little bit hitting some jump shots. We had really good team play. I just happened to be the one to put it in the bucket.”

Cherokee County coach Shane Reid called Perry’s performance “phenomenal.”

“We would get a steal, and he just ran down the court and was open,” Reid said. “His teammates gave him the ball. It was just a phenomenal team effort in the second half, but it was led by him.”

Collinsville (5-6) proved to be good competition for the Warriors in the first half. The Panthers led 16-13 at the end of the first quarter and trailed 30-25 at the half.

The Warriors upped their lead to 50-42 after three quarters and went on a 22-5 run to finish out the game.

“The second half, we really stepped it up on defense,” Perry said. “We started going full court and showing press. I think we wore them down a little bit, and I think our momentum came from our defense.”

Collinsville coach Jon Tidmore agreed. The Panthers finished the game with 26 turnovers, including 12 in the second quarter.

“I think probably turnovers and boards were the difference in the game,” he said. “I don’t think many of their scores came on initial shots. They’ve got a good team. They just snowed us under with the boards and quickness, and kept running five in and five out.”

Coty Blanchard added 13 points for the Warriors. D.J. Fife finished with eight points and Moryet Chambers came away with seven.

Robert Gray led Collinsville with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Kenny Orr finished with six points.