'Workman-like' Eastern Wayne wins

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on December 7, 2005 2:05 PM

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Eastern Wayne boys' basketball coach Marvin Bowman started noticing some special attributes from his team during offseason workouts.

They played hard, communicated and were unselfish.

The Warriors continued that workman-like style of play on Tuesday night at home against archrival Goldsboro. Keyed by a solid first half on both ends of the floor that saw Eastern Wayne turn 15 Cougar turnovers into numerous points, the Warriors improved to 4-2 with a 75-68 win in New Hope.

"They are learning each other. Sometimes, teams never get to that point," Bowman said. "These guys are close. They talk to each other, and they've bought in to what we're trying to do. Most of all, they enjoy what they do."

In the girls game, Goldsboro improved to 2-2 against Wayne County opposition with 52-46 victory over Eastern Wayne.

Senior guard Chevoya Jackson led the Lady Cougars with 20 points, 13 coming in the first half that saw the teams play to a 26-26 tie. After intermission, Goldsboro (3-2) found some much-needed balance on offense and turned up its intensity -- outscoring the Lady Warriors 17-8 in what proved to be a crucial, third-period run.

"We wanted to pick up our intensity. That was a gamble, because sometimes when you pick up your intensity fatigue can set in like it did against Southern Wayne," Goldsboro coach Gladys McClary said. "This time, they were ready. We did a lot of intense things in practice yesterday, and they told me, 'Coach, what we did in practice yesterday helped us out.'

"This is a learning process, game by game."

Eastern Wayne junior Yasmine Washington led all scorers with 25 points, including 19 in the first half.

The Lady Warriors (0-6) worked back into the game in the fourth and had the lead down to four or less for most of the final period, only to see the visitors hold on thanks to some tough offensive rebounding and a difficult reverse layup by Helga Bryant that pushed the score to its final margin with 10 seconds left.

Bryant finished with eight points, while freshman Kiana Williams added nine.

Poor free throw shooting hindered Eastern Wayne's girls as they shot just 4-of-14 from the stripe.

Eastern Wayne senior forward D'Adrian Worrell turned in another strong performance down low for the Warrior boys, rarely missing from the field on his way to 22 points. Worrell had at least two baskets in every quarter as he consistently took nice passes in the lane from Landon Downes (eight assists) and Lamar Davis (five assists).

"They've got good eyes. They always seem to find me," Worrell said of his guards. "We like passing the ball ... good fundamentals."

Meanwhile, junior guard Darryl Cowan added 17 points, including a pair of crowd-pleasing baskets at the end of the second and third quarter. Near the end of the half, Cowan slammed home an alley-oop pass from Davis to make it 39-24 at the break. He drained a 3-pointer from well outside the arch at the end of the third to push his team's lead to 56-49.

Goldsboro (2-4) turned in much improved play on both ends in the third period as the Cougars battled back to close the Warrior lead to 51-47 on a layup by 6-foot-7 junior Daquan Joyner, who finished with 22 points, including 12 in the third. Joyner scored another hoop in the paint to make it 53-49, before Cowan's deep 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Turnovers and suspect shot selection continued to plague Goldsboro in the fourth as it committed five miscues in the first five minutes as Eastern Wayne stretched its lead back to 14 at 69-55 with 4:30 left.

"We're not a smart basketball team right now. We make turnovers at key times, and the other thing we aren't doing well right now is defend," Goldsboro coach Randy Jordan said. "We've got some kids working real hard, but they've all got to buy into each other. Right now we're not doing that."

Late in the game, Goldsboro had a chance to cut the lead to six with two minutes left, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at the line. Eastern Wayne picked up the rebound, charged down the floor and eventually found freshman forward Reco McCarter for a two-handed dunk in the middle of the paint -- putting an exclamation point on an impressive home win.

McCarter finished with 14 points and three blocks in the middle. McCarter and Worrell were especially key during the first half as the post duo combined for 20 of their teams' 39 points at the break.

Junior Tim Kornegay added 20 points for Goldsboro and proved to be the Cougars' lone bright spot offensively in the opening half with 10 before intermission.

Eastern Wayne hosts North Lenoir on Friday, while Goldsboro entertains Charles B. Aycock.

Girls

Goldsboro 12 14 17 9 -- 52

Eastern Wayne 12 14 8 12 -- 46

GOLDSBORO (3-2)

Angel Williams 1 0 0-0 2, Chevoya Jackson 1 4 6-8 20, Helga Bryant 4 0 0-0 8, Kiana Williams 4 0 1-4 9, Daniel Irby 3 0 0-0 6, Tiffany Burden 1 0 1-4 3, Jonesha Maye 2 0 0-0 4. TOTALS -- 16 4 8-16 52.

EASTERN WAYNE (0-6)

Yasmine Washington 9 2 1-2 25, Dionne Smith 1 1 0-0 5, Noelle Kelley 2 0 1-4 5, LaNiece Sims 1 0 1-2 3, Eboni Reid 2 0 2-6 6, Jasmine McLamb 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 15 3 4-14 46.

Three-point baskets -- Goldsboro 4 (Jackson 4), Eastern Wayne 3 (Washington 2, Smith). Total fouls -- Goldsboro 8, Eastern Wayne 12. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.

Boys

Goldsboro 14 10 25 19 -- 68

Eastern Wayne 18 21 17 19 -- 75

GOLDSBORO (2-4)

Brandon Herring 5 0 1-2 11, Burnie Best 1 0 0-0 2, Eric McLean 1 0 0-0 2, Tim Kornegay 7 1 3-4 20, Treme Boone 1 0 0-0 2, Joe Houpe 2 0 2-5 6, Daquan Joyner 9 1 1-2 22, Antonio Green 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 28 2 8-15 68.

EASTERN WAYNE (4-2)

Lamar Davis 2 0 4-8 6, Darryl Cowan 3 3 2-2 17, Landon Downes 1 1 1-3 6, D'Adrian Worrell 9 0 4-4 22, Reco McCarter 7 0 0-0 14, Monty Best 2 0 2-2 6, Terrill Boseman 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 25 4 13-19 75.

Three-point baskets -- Goldsboro 2 (Kornegay, Joyner), Eastern Wayne 4 (Cowan 3, Downes). Turnovers -- Goldsboro 23, Eastern Wayne 18. Total fouls -- Goldsboro 16, Eastern Wayne 13. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.