Saints erase deficit, knock off Kinston

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 1, 2004 1:56 PM

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DUDLEY -- The Kinston mystique.

The long-standing tradition surrounding Kinston basketball is enough to make anyone cringe and play a little passive when the Vikings venture into an opponent's gym. For one half, Southern Wayne's boys seemed bothered by the enigma of Kinston basketball and played a passive style of basketball.

Unaware of Kinston's heritage, new Saints coach Mike Connelley challenged his team to eliminate the mystique and play more aggressive in the second half.

They listened.

Terriel Troublefield ignited a quick 9-0 run with two uncontested layups and the Saints kept the momentum in a 63-60 victory. It was the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference opener for both teams.

Southern Wayne (2-2) snapped the Vikings' 16-game win streak against ECC opposition and remained unbeaten in two home games this season.

"I thought they played timid," Connelley said. "In the first half they physically dominated us and pushed us around so I challenged them to not allow that to continue.

"I'm very proud of the way they answered that. I couldn't have been more pleased with the third quarter. Us coming out so quick in the third quarter helped us and gave us some confidence."

Austin Hood's offensive putback gave the Saints their first lead, 33-31, midway through the third period. Kinston moved in front 34-33, but Akeem Royal knocked down the go-ahead 3-pointer -- one of the Saints' nine long-range bombs on the night.

Royal's NBA-range shot sparked a 21-9 run that gave Southern Wayne its biggest advantage, 54-43.

"I told the kids that any time you come into a Wayne County gym, it's going to be a fight to the finish," Kinston coach Wells Gulledge said. "My kids played as hard as they possibly could. The effort was there and we're a very young team with just three guys returning.

"It was a very valiant effort by my kids."

J'Mell Walters' old-fashioned three-point play, generated from the Vikings' fullcourt scramble defense, started a 16-5 run. Teyon Marshall drained a 3-pointer, his only basket of the game, and Darryl Jones added a 3-pointer of his own to keep the rally intact.

Jones' steal and layup tied the game at 59-59 with 25 seconds left.

"We were having some trouble getting back in transition towards the end of the first half," said Gulledge, whose team slipped to 1-2 overall. "We picked them up three-quarters and when we were able to go deep on the bench, we did give them some problems (defensively). They hit their free throws."

Akeem Royal pushed the Saints back in front 61-59 with a basket-to-basket layup. Walters hit the front end of a two-shot foul and Royal rebounded the miss on the second attempt. He passed to Derek Garris, who got fouled with 7.3 seconds to go.

Garris calmly sank both free throws to make it 63-60. After a timeout, Jones took the ball the length of the court and missed a 3-pointer off the left side of the rim as time expired.

"Derek made some clutch free throws," Connelley said. "I told them if we play that hard, make mistakes and still win, you don't have to play perfect."

Royal led three Saints in double figures with 13 points. Garris contributed 11, while Troublefield finished with 10.

Southern Wayne (1-3, 0-1) owned a 10-8 lead late in the first quarter and battled Kinston for every loose-ball rebound during the early stages of a 49-38 loss in the girls' game. The Vikings made slight adjustments inside the paint, began dominating the boards and started to build a small cushion against the Saints.

Kinston (2-1, 1-0) led 22-16 at halftime and boosted the advantage to 33-20 after three quarters of play. The Saints pulled within 41-36 late in the fourth quarter. Shaquala Rhodes hit two free throws and Makita Russell added a steal and layup off an inbounds pass to make it 45-36.

"I'm pretty pleased, to be perfectly honest," Saints coach Sally Combs said. "They're responding to a new system. They're lacking in a lot of fundamentals, learning every day and growing every day.

"Today they actually put some of the stuff into play and I was very pleased with that. Are there letdown areas? Of course there are. We're going to have to work on those."

The Saints committed 24 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle 39-30.

Dionne Dotson paced Southern Wayne with a game-high 15 points and Danielle Wilkins added 10.

Girls game

Kinston 13 9 11 16 -- 49

Southern Wayne 10 6 4 18 -- 38

KINSTON (2-1, 1-0)

Krystal Suggs 0 0 1-2 1, Courtney Smith 3 0 0-0 6, Phylicia Dunn 2 0 2-2 6, Gabriell Taylor 2 0 0-1 4, Audriana Hill 0 0 0-0 0, Shaquala Rhodes 2 0 5-9 9, Krystal Fuller 3 0 1-2 7, Demicka McMhn 1 0 0-0 2, Matika Russell 2 0 3-9 7. TOTALS - 17 0 15-28 49.

SOUTHERN WAYNE (1-3, 0-1)

Dionne Dotson 5 0 5-9 15, Shakoria Clark 1 0 2-4 4, Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Ebony Darden 0 0 2-4 2, D.C. Blount 1 0 0-0 2, Wilkins 4 0 2-2 10, Shalisa Robinson 0 0 0-0 0, Lynn Grantham 0 1 0-2 3, Christy Dixon 0 0 0-1 0. TOTALS - 12 1 11-23 38.

Three-point goals - Southern Wayne 1 (Grantham). Turnovers - Kinston 22, Southern Wayne 24. Total fouls - Kinston 21, Southern Wayne 20. Fouled out - Dunn, Rhodes, Russell, Dotson. Technical fouls - none.

Boys game

Kinston 15 16 10 19 -- 60

Southern Wayne 13 11 20 19 -- 63

KINSTON (1-2, 0-1)

LePaul Foye 1 0 1-1 3, K.K. Sherrod 0 0 0-0 0, Teyon Marshall 0 1 1-2 4, Darryl Jones 5 2 1-2 17, Miguel Starkey 1 1 2-2 7, Victor Speller 3 0 1-4 7, J'Mell Walters 4 0 2-4 10, Calvin Miller 2 0 0-0 4, Marquis Grant 2 0 0-0 4, Steven Sherrod 0 0 0-0 0, Lamontae Smith 0 0 2-4 2, Jamar Carraway 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS - 19 4 10-19 60.

SOUTHERN WAYNE (2-2, 1-0)

Rico Whitfield 0 0 -0 0, Delawn Armwood 1 2 1-2 9, Derek Garris 0 3 2-2 11, Antonio Davis 1 0 2-2 4, Akeem Royal 1 3 2-2 13, Alex Brailsford 3 0 1-3 7, Montrel Vick 0 0 -0 0, Justin Bellamy 0 0 0-0 0, Terriel Troublefield 5 0 0-0 10; Austin Hood 3 1 0-1 9, Derrick Lathan 0 0 0-0 0. TOTALS - 14 9 8-12 63.

Three-point goals - Kinston 4 (Jones 2, Starkey, Marshall), Southern Wayne 9 (Royal 3, Garris 3, Armwood 1, Hood). Turnovers - Kinston 10, Southern Wayne 13. Total fouls - Kinston 16, Southern Wayne 17. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none.