Gator boys show balance

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on January 21, 2004 2:01 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek's Josh Bishop picked up a steal and dribbled past midcourt, quickly firing a pass into the post to Brian Armstrong. When a couple of North Johnston defenders collapsed, he found Grey Wilson, who buried a three-pointer wide open on the right wing early in the fourth period.

The three did not just put a dagger into any comeback attempt from North Johnston (7-8, 2-3). It also fittingly summed up a 71-57 win that looked a lot like many of Spring Creek's victories at the first of the season -- unselfish, yet explosive.

"If we play like we played tonight, we are going to be hard to beat," Spring Creek coach Sonny Kilpatrick said. "We didn't play this way against Ayden-Grifton, or in any of our losses. If we had, things may be different.

"But I'm happy with being 10-5 right now."

Behind the strength of a 26-point second perioid, the North Johnston girls overcame sluggish play to take a 52-37 win over the Lady Gators. Spring Creek (6-9, 3-2 Carolina 1-A) committed 18 turnovers in the second as Panther leading scorer Helen Moore capitalized with 10 of her game-high 18 points during the period.

"They capitalized on each turnover. We came in with a game plan, but mentally we got rattled and we couldn't regroup and get back," Spring Creek coach Cassandra Tyson said. "Once we got it across half-court, we were fine. That was our obstacle."

Both teams took solid steps in conference play with the wins. Spring Creek's boys (10-5 overall) jumped into a first-place tie with Ayden-Grifton -- both with 4-1 Carolina worksheets. The Lady Panthers (12-3) improved to 3-2 in conference play and currently sit tied with Spring Creek in third.

The Gator boys displayed consistent balance in the win as three players scored in double figures and two more had nine points each. Point guard Josh Bishop was one of two Spring Creek players with a double-double as he scored 20 points and dished out 10 assists. Post player Brian Armstrong added a season-high 16 points and pulled down 14 rebounds (seven offensive and seven defensive).

Armstrong, Michael Broadie and Mychael King, who had five rebounds, proved crucial to the win as they consistently maintained the boards and limited second-chance shots.

"We went in there strong and played hard," Kilpatrick said. "We boxed them out as good as any team we've played all year."

Wilson added 12 points in the win, with two of his four three's coming in the fourth period. Wilson also turned in a steady defensive effort against Panther gaurd Jake Lomonaco, the team's leading scorer coming in. Lomonaco finished with a quiet 13 points in the loss.

Shane Stevenson and Michael Broadie contributed nine points each.

The Lady Gators kept the game close through the first as their own turnovers were cancelled out by the Panthers inability to finish on the offensive end.

Shondolyn Rogers, who finished with 26 points, got out to a hot start, scoring all eight of the team's first-period points.

The tide quickly switched in North Johnston's favor in the second as Moore and Krystal Atkinson got easy baskets off of Gator turnovers. The 38-16 lead at the break was comfortable, but Panther coach David Bagwell wasn't happy with his team's slow start and finish.

"We had stretches where we played well, but we had stretches where we didn't execute offensively or defensively," Bagwell said. "The effort was there, we just made some poor decisions."

Spring Creek's teams travel to Clinton today to take on Union in non-conference action today, while North Johnston travels to Wilson Beddingfield on Friday.

Girls

North Johnston 12 26 10 4 -- 52

Spring Creek 8 8 8 13 -- 37

NORTH JOHNSTON (12-3, 3-2)

Helen Moore 8 0 2-4 18, Janna Rogerson 6 0 0-0 12, Lakisha McFadden 3 0 0-0 6, Krystal Atkinson 3 0 0-4 6, Amanda Pope 2 0 0-0 4, Brandi Brinchek 2 0 0-0 4, Stefanie Jones 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 25 0 2-8 52.

SPRING CREEK (6-9, 3-2)

Shondolyn Rogers 12 0 2-2 26, Tomeka Pride 2 0 0-0 4, Troia Morgan 0 1 0-0 3, Barbara Witherington 1 0 0-0 2, Amy Curly 1 0 0-2 2, Austi Joyner 0 0 0-2 0, Yolanda Lawson 0 0 0-2 0. TOTALS -- 16 1 2-6 37.

Three-point baskets -- Spring Creek 1 (Morgan). Turnovers -- North Johnston 23, Spring Creek 34. Total fouls -- North Johnston 8, Spring Creek 6. Fouled out -- none. Technicals -- none.

Boys

North Johnston 14 17 15 9 -- 57

Spring Creek 16 23 13 19 -- 71

NORTH JOHNSTON (7-8, 2-3)

Willie Smith 6 0 3-8 15, Jake Lomonaco 3 2 1-2 13, Antonio Humphrey 4 0 0-1 8, Damien Allen 2 1 0-2 7, Brandon Sanders 3 0 0-0 6, Brad Holloman 2 0 0-0 4, Michael Thompson 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Marshall 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS - 22 3 4-13 57.

SPRING CREEK (10-5, 4-1)

Josh Bishop 5 2 4-4 20, Brian Armstrong 7 0 2-4 16, Grey Wilson 0 4 0-0 12, Shane Stevenson 2 1 2-2 9, Michael Broadie 4 0 1-2 9, Mychael King 1 0 1-2 3. TOTALS - 19 7 10-14 71.

Three-point baskets -- North Johnston 3 (Lomonaco 2, Allen), Spring Creek 7 (Wilson 4, Bishop 2, Stevenson). Turnovers -- North Johnston 18, Spring Creek 12. Total fouls -- North Johnston 10, Spring Creek 10. Fouled out -- none. Technicals -- none.