Southern Wayne collects fifth victory in six tries

Published in Sports on December 14, 2005 2:08 PM

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DUDLEY -- The Southern Wayne boys ran the floor with perfection Tuesday night, scoring 54 first half points while committing only four turnovers and coasted to an easy 94-75 over Smithfield-Selma.

The Lady Saints led the Smithfield-Selma girls 32-28 at halftime only to see the Spartan girls come back with a strong second half performance to claim a 50-47 win in a well-played girls basketball game.

The Saints boys started fast with 26 first quarter points as guard Austin Hood pushed the ball up the court quickly and found open shooters on the wings. Akeen Royal filled the nets with nine points in the first quarter while teammate Derek Garris added eight with two 3-point baskets.

"With the size of our team we have to play fast," Southern Wayne boy's coach Mike Connelley said. "We have really good guards and are not turning the ball over, we emphasize protecting the ball."

The Saints continued running and scored 28 points in the second quarter. Southern Wayne hit 13 treys in the game with six coming in the second stanza. Southern Wayne led 54-33 at the halftime break.

Any hopes the Spartans had of coming back in the second half were quickly dashed in the third quarter. A ferocious Saints defense created nine Smithfield Selma turnovers and the offense was still clicking on all cylinders and Southern Wayne had 84 points when the third quarter ended.

Smithfield Selma never could slow the Saints down until late in the game when the Southern Wayne reserves played the entire fourth quarter.

"I am really pleased with the way we are playing but we realize we have a ways to go, hopefully we will get better," said Connelly. "We are trying to emphasize defensive pressure, we realize great teams play great defense regardless of the style they play.

Southern Wayne placed four players in double figures for the game. Royal led all scorers with 25 points and Delawn Armwood was close behind with 20. Garris had 17 including five threes. Along with his outstanding floor game, Hood chipped in 10 points.

In the girls game, the Lady Saints fell behind quickly 5-0. Southern Wayne was scoreless until midway through the first quarter, forcing coach Sally Combs to use an early timeout.

From that point, Southern Wayne dominated the remainder of the first quarter to grab a six-point lead.

"We were in man and I put in some quick guards after the timeout," Combs said.

The quickness paid off as Southern Wayne scored 17 points in the final four and a half minutes of the first quarter. The Lady Saints continued their good play in the second quarter and led by four at intermission.

In the third quarter, the Lady Spartans used a strong defense of their own to surge back into the lead by five heading into the final quarter.

Smithfield Selma was in control until the Saints girls made a final push to win the game. Trailing by eight with less than four minutes left, Southern Wayne started chipping away at the Spartan lead and pulled to within three in the final moments of the game.

The Saints had the ball out of bounds with 10 seconds remaining with a chance to tie the game but fell short.

"We drew up a play to make a 3-pointer and tie the game but we just did not execute," said Combs. "We are a very young team playing with a lot of freshmen and sophomores, sometimes I have to put some experience in the game to calm things down."

Shakoria Clark and Lynessha Leonard were the leading scorers for the Saints with 10 points each.

Southern Wayne will travel to Goldsboro to face their county rival in a non-conference matchup Friday night.

Girls

Smithfield Selma 11 17 14 8 -- 50

Southern Wayne 17 15 5 10 -- 47

Smithfield Selma (3-5)

Angie Blake 1 0 1-2 3; Rejess Marshal 2 0 9-17 13; Jocelyn Gaines 2 0 0-0 4; Mary Humphries 2 0 1-2 5 Sierra Pearson 3 0 2-6 8; Deandra Cunningham 3 0 0-0 6; Ashley Ennis 2 0 7-8 11. Totals -- 15 0 20-35 50.

Southern Wayne (2-4)

Kierra Ingram 0 0 1-2 1; Shakoria Clark 4 0 2-2 10; Ebony Darden 5 0 1-2 11; Christie Dixon 3 1 0-0 9; Cassandra Jones 1 0 0-2 2; Lynnesha Leonard 2 0 6-8 10; Jamika Allen 2 0 0-0 4. Totals -- 17 1 10-16 47.

Three-point baskets - Smithfield Selma none, Southern Wayne 1, (Dixon) Turnovers - Smithfield Selma 24, Southern Wayne 21 Total fouls - Smithfield Selma 14, Southern Wayne 22. Fouled out- none - Technical fouls - none.

Boys

Smithfield Selma 17 16 15 27 -- 75

Southern Wayne 26 28 30 10 -- 94

Smithfield Selma (1-7)

Devonta Woodard 2 0 0-0 4. Damon Revell 0 1 0-0 3; Alex Humphries 0 4 2-2 14; Maurice Murray 3 0 3-6 9; Brandon Grantham 3 1 2-3 11; Cameron Howell 4 0 5-10 13; Wesley Quinn 4 0 0-0 8 Ashton Dickson 5 0 3-3 13. Totals -- 21 6 15-24 75.

Southern Wayne (5-1)

Derek Garris 1 5 0-0 17; Andre Langston 0 0 3-5 3; Antonio Davis 1 0 2-2 4; Akeem Royal 5 4 3-4 25; Delawn Armwood 6 2 2-2 20; Justin Bellamy 1 0 2-2 4; Kendrick Thompson 2 0 2-5 6; Austin Hood 2 2 0-0 10; Jaffari Ward 1 0 1-2 3; Jon Hart 1 0 0-2 2. Totals -- 20 13 15-22 94.

Three-point baskets - Smithfield Selma 6, (Revelle, Humphries 4, Grantham), Southern Wayne 13, (Garris 5, Royal 4, Armwood 2, Hood 2) Turnovers - Smithfield Selma 21, Southern Wayne 16. Total fouls - Smithfield Selma 17, Southern Wayne 20; fouled out Southern Wayne - Bellamy; technical fouls - none