East Wake wins Rosewood tourney

Published in Sports on December 29, 2005 2:11 PM

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In a spectacular high school basketball game, East Wake hung on in the last minute to defeat Wayne Country Day and capture the 2005 Rosewood Holiday Tournament by a score of 81-78 Wednesday night.

The Charger's Adam Wright set a school record, scoring 48 points despite being heavily guarded most of the night. The silky smooth senior sank eight 3-point baskets and dazzled the crowd scoring from all over the floor and almost single handily carried Wayne Country Day to victory.

"We just battled a 4-A public school down to the wire, I could not be more proud of my team," an emotionally drained Charger head coach Chad Wiggins commented after the game. "When I walked into the dressing room, I told my team they had no reason to hang their head -- this was not the kind of loss you hang your head over."

The game was close from start to finish and neither team was able to get a double-digit lead. East Wake worked the ball inside for layups and drew fouls when they did not score. The Warriors went to the foul line 37 times in the contest.

"I felt all our baskets were hard and contested and their baskets were easy" said Wiggins. "I cannot take anything away from them, that is why you play the game -- to get easy baskets."

East Wake knew they were in a dogfight early and Wayne Country Day matched the Warriors basket for basket in a 19-19 tie after one quarter of play. The Chargers jumped to a six-point, second-quarter lead on an uncontested basket by Wright forcing an agitated East Wake coach Larry Lindsay to call timeout and regroup.

A last minute dunk by the Warriors' Jerry Pulley and a lay up at the buzzer by Travis Montague cut the Wayne Country Day lead to one at halftime. The late second quarter rally by East Wake gave the Warriors momentum as they outscored the Chargers 17-12 in the pivotal third quarter and led 53-49 after three periods of play.

East Wake led by seven with just more than four minutes to play in the game, but Wayne Country Day was far from finished.

"I felt like the game was slipping away, but Tavon (Waters) had a big steal and Adam (Wright) had another basket and we were right back in the game," said Wiggins.

Two fouls shots by Cameron Strickland tied the game 74-74 with only a minute left.

A basket by tournament MVP Travis Montague gave the Warriors a two-point lead and the Chargers called timeout to set up a play to tie the game with 22 seconds left.

Wayne Country Day was unable to convert and East Wake made critical free throws in the last seconds to seal the victory. East Wake's Pulley had four baskets in the third quarter and finished the game with 15 points.

Montague took over for the Warriors in the fourth quarter and scored 14 of his team-leading 32 points in the final stanza. Weeks and Waters added nine points each for the Chargers.

In the consolation game, Rosewood lost to the Durham School of the Arts 58-50 despite rallying in the third quarter to lead by three going into the final period. The Bulldogs used a box-and-one defense on Eagles star Kyle Bunn in the fourth quarter and limited Rosewood to 10 fourth-quarter points.

"We did not get many good looks at the basket late in the game and that hurt us," Eagle coach Daniel Mitchell said. "We started playing good man-to-man defense in the third quarter and that brought us back. I thought our passing was better tonight, and in the second half, we cut our turnovers."

Bunn had an outstanding tournament and scored 24 points to lead the Eagles. Trey Kriger followed with eight points -- including a pair of 3-point baskets.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Sam Rascoe's 16 points. McKinney and Eatmon added 14 and 12, respectively.

Six players were named to the 2005 Holiday Classic all-yournament team. Rosewood and DSA were represented by Kyle Bunn and Sam Rascoe. The tournament finals teams had two players each. Adam Wright and Tavon Waters were named from Wayne Country Day. The tournament champion Warriors leading scorers Travis Montague and Jerry Pulley finished out the team.

Consolation game

DSA 17 11 9 21 -- 58

Rosewood 8 16 16 10 -- 50

DSA (2-9)

Tony Pandullo 1 0 1-3 3; Sam Rascoe 2 4 0-0 16; Brent Williams 0 0 2-2 2; Tarvio McKinney 3 2 2-2 14; Brint Hayes 4 0 1-2 9; Greg Eatmon 4 0 4-7 12; Steve Howard 1 0 0-0 2. Totals -- 15 6 10-16 58.

ROSEWOOD (1-10)

Stephen McIntire 1 0 0-0 2; Kyle Bunn 3 4 6-7 24; Clarence Toran 1 0 0-3 2; Dennis Jones 2 0 2-2 6; Holt Raines 1 0 1-2 3. Zack Hardison 2 0 1-2 5; Trey Kriger 1 2 0-0 8. Totals -- 11 6 10-16 50

Three-point baskets -- DSA 6 (Rascoe 4, McKinney 2), Rosewood 6 (Bunn 4, Kriger 2). Total fouls -- DSA 14, Rosewood 18. Turnovers -- DSA 12, Rosewood 11. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- DSA (McKinney).

Championship game

East Wake 19 17 17 28 -- 81

WCDS 19 18 12 29 -- 78

EAST WAKE (6-5)

Julian Harrington 1 0 1-6 3; Joe Wagstaff 0 0 2-2 2; Josh Grizzard 1 0 0-2 2; Carl Brooks 4 0 6-6 14; Jerry Pulley 7 0 1-2 15; Travis Montague 6 3 11-15 32; P.J. Harrison 5 0 1-4 11; Jackson Glasco 1 0 0-0 2. Totals -- 25 3 22-37 81.

WAYNE COUNTRY DAY (11-3)

Jeff Franklin 0 1 0-0 3; Adam Wright 10 8 4-6 48; Phillip Weeks 3 1 0-1 9; Cameron Strickland 0 0 2-2 2; Travis Davis 1 1 2-2 7; Tavon Waters 2 1 2-3 9. Totals -- 16 12 10-14 78.

Three-point baskets -- East Wake 3, (Montague 3), Wayne Country Day 12, (Wright 8, Waters, Weeks, Davis, Franklin). Total fouls -- East Wake 18, Wayne Country Day 22. Turnovers -- East Wake 9 Wayne Country Day 7. Fouled out -- Wayne Country Day -- Waters. Technical Fouls East Wake 1 (Grizzard); Wayne Country Day 2 (Wright, Franklin).