COLUMBUS, Ohio -- There is only one way to describe Africentric's 100-75 win over Walnut Ridge on Tuesday night: a tale of two halves.

After Africentric jumped out to a 20-19 lead following the first quarter, Walnut Ridge junior Dom Aekins engineered a huge run to start the second frame for the Scots.

Putting on a scoring clinic in the first half, Aekins dropped 25 points in the first 16 minutes of play as Africentric clearly had no answer for his combination of speed, shiftiness and ability to shoot off the dribble.

After beginning the game scorching hot from the field, Africentric senior and Xavier signee Dailyn Swain began to cool down a little bit in the second quarter, allowing Walnut Ridge to take a 50-37 lead into the locker room at halftime following a buzzer beating three to end the half.

When you combine Aekins phenomenal first half performance with the fact that Swain headed into the locker room with three fouls at halftime, it felt as if Africentric was in deep trouble in a game that many people thought they would win.

However, as soon as the second half began, it was all Nubians.

Beginning the third quarter on a 21-2 run, Africentric regained control of the game and forced a Walnut Ridge timeout with the Nubians ahead 58-52 midway through the third quarter of action.

As Africentric began double teaming Aekins every time he touched the ball in the second half, Walnut Ridge simply could not muster enough offense on one end and could not stop Swain on the other end.

Taking over the game in the third quarter, Swain helped the Nubians head into the final frame ahead 71-57, completely flipping the script. Walnut Ridge simply never regained any momentum, falling 100-75 after giving up 63 second half points.

Putting on the most incredible individual performance we have seen so far this season, Swain finished finished the game with a 39 point triple double, also adding 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

For Walnut Ridge, Aekins was phenomenal in the loss, leading them with 33 points. Scholarship programs looking for a dynamic guard who can score in a ton of ways should be all over the junior.

Now lets take a look at 5 Keys to the game:

1. Dailyn Swain plays for Africentric: This one is quite simple. Swain was unstoppable for most of the night and without him, Africentric would have been in deep trouble.

2. Double-teaming Dom: If Africentric would have let Dom Aekins play one-on-one all night like they did in the first half, I am convinced he would have finished with 40+ points and they would have won the game. However, Coach Bates made a great halftime adjustment, double teaming the star junior guard on every touch and forcing Walnut Ridge's role players to beat them.

3. Momentum: This game was full of momentum swings. After Africentric jumped out to an early lead behind a few dunks from Swain, Walnut Ridge then fought back to close the gap before the end of the first prior to taking control of the game in the second half. However, after Africentric's big run to start the third quarter, it was evident that they'd control the game the rest of the way.

4. Getting out in transition: Africentric forced quite a bit of turnovers in the second half on Tuesday night as it felt like every other possession they converted on a wide open fast break layup to increase their lead even further. Even aside from forcing turnovers, the Nubians did a great job of moving up the floor quickly following defensive rebounds, leading to a lot of easy buckets.

5. A lot on the line for the Nubians: I can only imagine what the locker room was like at halftime for Africentric. Although it is still early in the season, a loss tonight would have put them behind Walnut Ridge in the City League South race. If Walnut Ridge won the rest of their league games, which has a strong chance of happening, they would head to the City League title game even if Africentric took them down in round two of this matchup. I believe internal motivation played a big role in Africentric's dominant second half tonight.