Prep basketball -- EW splits with West Carteret

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 8, 2004 1:57 PM

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Eastern Wayne's Adrian Kendrick and Justin Richardson, and West Carteret's Ausha Graham effectively did their jobs as guards in Tuesday evening's Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference battle.

Kendrick and Richardson combined for 21 points in the first half as the Warriors knocked off the previously-unbeaten Patriots 72-64.

Graham, plagued by foul trouble in the first half, slashed her way through the Eastern Wayne defense throughout the final 16 minutes of play. The junior poured in a game-high 27 points as West Carteret earned its first victory, 55-51, of the season.

"I was pleased with the way Adrian ran the team," Warriors coach Marvin Bowman said. "He did a good job playmaking ... that type of thing."

Kendrick buried three 3-pointers, all off Richardson assists, as Eastern Wayne bolted to an early lead against West Carteret.

While the Warriors (3-4, 2-1 ECC) had things working in their favor offensively, their defense caused problems for the Patriots. Guards James Fox and C.J. Fallin had trouble penetrating Eastern Wayne's 2-3 zone and couldn't get 6-foot-4 center Johnny Thomas consistently involved in the offense.

West Carteret missed its first 10 shots from the floor.

"We shut down some of the passing lanes sometimes and we contested most of their shots," Bowman said. "We tried to get as many deflections as we could get. Our kids played really well tonight."

Down 40-28 at halftime, the Patriots (3-1, 1-1) opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run. Landon Downes stopped the momentum with a layup and Richardson added his only 3-pointer to push the Warriors' lead back to 45-35.

Eastern Wayne maintained a double-digit lead despite Thomas, who tallied 22 of his game-high 32 points in the second half.

The Warriors kept the visitors in check with strong free throw shooting -- a 15 of 18 performance in the final quarter. Overall, Bowman's team connected on 22 of 32 free throw attempts compared to 15 of 20 for the Patriots.

"We missed one here and there down the stretch, but I was very pleased with our effort at the line," Bowman said.

Before the girls tipped off, second-year Warrior coach Brent Holland hustled over to the scorer's table.

"What number is Graham?" he asked his scorekeeper.

By the end of the game, everyone -- minus the Patriot faithful -- knew her name. Graham burned the Warrior defense for 20 of her game-high 27 points in the second half and helped stage a game-winning rally in the closing minute.

Kristen Elliot's offensive putback and Yasmine Washington's layup, off Sierra King's assist, gave Eastern Wayne a 49-46 advantage with less than two minutes to go.

Patriot forward Shade Hester dribbled into the paint, drew the defense to her and dished off outside to Graham. Uncovered on the perimeter, Graham buried the game-tying 3-pointer which started a 9-2 run.

"We left the best player on the floor wide open," Holland said. "You can't miss a defensive assignment like that. You've got to know who the best player on the floor. Hands down she was the best player on the floor the whole night.

"We couldn't guard her. She just presented so many matchup problems for us."

Graham gave the Patriots a 51-49 lead, but Natasha Wiley forced a 51-51 tie on the Warriors' next possession. West Carteret (1-3, 1-1) committed a turnover, but Eastern Wayne gave it right back and Graham, who handed off to B.J. Gouillion. Gouillion easily knocked down the go-ahead basket and Graham added an uncontested layup for the 55-51 finale.

King finished with 21 points for the Warriors, who held a nine-point lead in the opening half. Washington added 13, while Elliot chipped in six.

Girls game

West Carteret 9 15 16 15 -- 55

Eastern Wayne 13 10 12 16 -- 51

WEST CARTERET (1-3, 1-1)

Shade Hester 2 0 1-2 5, Holly Paquin 0 0 0-0 0, Joanna Dodge 0 0 0-0 0, Hanna Flynn 1 0 2-2 4, Alex Baxter 2 0 0-0 4, Amber Taylor 1 0 0-1 2, Ausha Graham 9 3 0-0 27, Allison Davis 1 0 0-0 2, Ashley Bowen 3 0 0-0 6, Jessi Minks 0 0 0-0 0, B.J. Gouillion 1 1 0-1 5. TOTALS -- 20 4 3-6 55.

EASTERN WAYNE (2-4, 2-1)

Deniz Alemdar 2 0 1-2 5, Yasmine Washington 4 1 2-2 13, LaNiece Sims 0 0 1-2 1, LaShonda Berry 0 0 0-0 0, Natasha Wiley 1 0 1-4 3, Jalisa Atkinson 0 0 0-0 0, Sara Koreneyac 0 0 0-0 0, Sierra King 3 4 3-7 21, Jasmine McLamb 1 0 0-0 2, Kristen Elliot 2 0 2-4 6. TOTALS -- 13 5 10-21 51.

Three-point goals -- Eastern Wayne 5 (King 4, Washington), West Carteret 4 (Graham 3, Gouillion). Turnovers -- Eastern Wayne 18, West Carteret 21. Total fouls -- Eastern Wayne 11, West Carteret 15. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.

Boys game

West Carteret 14 14 13 23 -- 64

Eastern Wayne 21 19 9 23 -- 72

WEST CARTERET (3-1, 1-1)

Johnny Thomas 11 0 10-10 32, Luciano Busciglio 0 1 0-0 3, James Fox 0 0 0-0 0, Shelton Sledge 1 0 0-1 2, Drew Poulk 3 0 4-5 10, Brian Toman 1 0 0-0 2, C.J. Fallin 3 0 1-2 7, Elijah Thomas 3 0 0-2 6, Michael Graham 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 23 1 15-20 74.

EASTERN WAYNE (2-4, 2-1)

Donald Rouse 1 0 4-7 6, Justin Richardson 3 1 3-8 12, Adrian Kendrick 3 3 4-4 19, Adrienne Battle 0 0 0-0 0, Landon Downes 2 0 2-2 6, Theo Givens 0 0 0-0 0, Terrill Boseman 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Campbell 7 0 6-7 20, Darren Ward 2 0 2-2 6, Donald Atkinson 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 19 4 22-32 72.

Three-point goals -- Eastern Wayne 4 (Kendrick 3, Richardson), West Carteret 1 (Busciglio). Turnovers -- Eastern Wayne 11, West Carteret 10. Total fouls -- Eastern Wayne 18, West Carteret 22. Fouled out -- Fox, Rouse, Ward. Technical fouls -- none.