Tough night for Golden Falcons

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 30, 2005 2:04 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Picked by its peers to occupy the Eastern Carolina Conference cellar, Charles B. Aycock's varsity boys basketball team is sending its opponents an early message -- don't always believe what you see or hear.

Just ask North Lenoir.

The unbeaten Hawks (4-0) worked hard on every possession and earned every point in a 73-65, non-conference victory Tuesday evening.

The Golden Falcons, who haven't played at full strength in more than a week, dipped to 1-3 overall heading into Friday's contest at Clayton.

Pressure defense and poor shooting underneath the basket proved critical for C.B. Aycock's varsity girls. Carla Miller led three players in double figures with 18 points for the Hawks, who prevailed 61-41 in a battle of unbeaten teams.

Santavin Poole, fully recovered from chicken pox, returned to the Aycock boys' lineup and provided 21 points. Guard Lamada Williams remained on the bench with a sprained ankle and is expected to undergo an MRI on Thursday.

"A lot of guys stepped up in other guys' absences. I'm really looking forward to getting our whole team together," said C.B. Aycock coach David West. "I really think when we do, as long as we can stay healthy, we're going to make some noise.

"Being voted to end up last in our conference is something for everybody to sit around the table and talk about. It's fired my guys up and I'm glad that it has because they're going to play off stuff like that."

Rob Phillips, who collected a career-high 30 points, gave the Golden Falcons a 38-37 lead on a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. The senior guard added another 3-pointer later in the period to give Aycock it's biggest lead -- 48-42 -- with just under two minutes to go.

North Lenoir regained the lead at 55-54 on Eddie Cox's 3-pointer off Adrian Brewer's assist. Phillips answered with a layup underneath and Brewer buried a 3-pointer off Cox' assist.

The two long-range jumpers and Brewer's uncontested layup boosted the Hawks' advantage to 66-60. Phillips converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:24 to go, which closed the gap to 67-63.

Hawks forward Omar Jones added two free throws and drew a crucial charging foul against Phillips to thwart any further comeback attempts. Jones emerged one of four North Lenoir players in double figures with 17 points.

"The guys left their heart, every bit of effort ... everything on the court," said West. "We're going to make teams work for everything they get. The 'W' is the only thing we didn't leave the court with."

Jazzmine Lee and Jasmine Dobbins hit key buckets during an early third-quarter stretch as C.B. Aycock trimmed North Lenoir's lead to 35-32.

The Hawks, who played a stifling pressure defense all evening, answered with a decisive 19-2 run. The Golden Falcons committed 10 of their 29 turnovers during that stretch and tallied just one field goal in six-plus minutes.

"We made some good runs there and started to play pretty well at the start of the third quarter, then we got lax on defense and started back turning the ball over," said C.B. Aycock coach Luke Vail, whose team slipped to 3-1 overall. "Not executing the press breaker ... it's amazing when you take one player out of your lineup and it seems to throw the entire team off beat.

"It was a poor job of execution and ball handling tonight."

Point guard Quaneisha Milner sat on the bench during North Lenoir's game-clinching surge. The senior took a couple of hard falls against Hawks' defender Brittany McPhail, who played physical throughout the game.

The contest featured six lead changes and neither team enjoyed more than a three-point advantage in the opening quarter. Aycock could have built a significant lead, but missed 10 shots underneath the basket -- including five layups.

Katie Maloney's offensive putback and Miller's three consecutive 3-pointers broke open a tight game in the second quarter. The duo helped the Hawks (4-0) cruise ahead 29-16.

"I was a little disappointed because I thought we gave up some easy looks (at the basket) in the first half," said first-year North Lenoir coach Anthony Loftin. "But in the second half, we buckled down and played good defense. We play a lot of (different) defenses and the girls really responded."

Maloney and Keshonia Miller, who dished out seven assists, each scored 11 points.

Dobbins and Milner pumped in 14 and 11 points, respectively, for the Golden Falcons.

Boys game

North Lenoir 16 19 13 25 -- 73

C.B. Aycock 13 18 21 13 -- 65

NORTH LENOIR (4-0)

Adrian Brewer 5 1 5-9 18, Eddie Cox 0 3 2-4 11, Emmanuel Rosber 1 0 0-1 2, Sam Edwards 4 0 0-2 8, Omar Jones 4 0 9-10 17, Mike Morgan 4 1 0-0 11, Jackie Sutton 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Artis 0 0 2-4 2, Adrian Madry 0 0 0-0 0, Marcus Batts 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 20 5 18-30 73

C.B. AYCOCK (4-0)

Montez Ham 0 0 1-2 1, Thoams Artis 2 0 0-0 4, Ryan Campbell 0 0 0-0 0, Rob Phillips 7 3 7-13 30, Evan Medford 0 0 2-4 2, Brian Brock 0 0 0-0 0, Brandon Price 2 0 1-2 5, Tim Alston 1 0 0-0 2, Santavin Poole 8 0 5-8 21. TOTALS -- 20 3 16-29 65.

3-point goals -- North Lenoir 5 (Cox 3, Brewer, Morgan), C.B. Aycock 3 (Phillips 3). Turnovers -- North Lenoir 8, C.B. Aycock 25. Total fouls -- North Lenoir 22, C.B. Aycock 23. Fouled out -- Phillips. Technical fouls -- none.

Girls game

North Lenoir 13 16 19 13 -- 61

C.B. Aycock 12 10 10 9 -- 41

NORTH LENOIR (4-0)

Brittany McPhail 2 0 0-0 4, Keshonia Miller 1 2 3-4 11, Timon Jones 0 0 1-2 1, Katie Maloney 5 0 1-2 11, Sheminia Lynch 0 0 0-0 0, Catelyn Howard 1 2 0-0 7, Lashura Spruill 0 0 3-4 3, Helena Davis 2 0 2-5 6, Briana Brignoni 0 0 0-0 0, Carla Miller 3 3 3-4 18. TOTALS -- 14 7 13-21 61.

C.B. AYCOCK (3-1)

Jasmine Dobbins 6 0 2-3 14, Janay Dickerson 0 0 0-0 0, Quaneisha Milner 4 1 0-2 11, Quita Broadie 0 0 0-0 0, Jazzmine Lee 2 0 2-2 6, Chantel Gaines 1 0 0-0 2, Erin Medford 1 1 0-0 5, Rusti Talton 0 0 0-0 0, Chelsea Jackson 0 0 1-3 1, Meagan Yelverton 0 0 0-0 0, Lauren Pratt 0 0 0-0 0, Brianna Reid 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 15 2 5-10 41.

3-point goals -- North Lenoir 7 (Spruill 3, Howard 2, Miller 2), C.B. Aycock 2 (Medford, Milner). Turnovers -- North Lenoir 30, C.B. Aycock 29. Total fouls -- North Lenoir 14, C.B. Aycock 15. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.