'We just didn't give an effort today' Ñ Goldsboro falls to Phoebus (Va.)

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on December 30, 2005 2:01 PM

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RALEIGH -- Goldsboro coach Randy Jordan hoped the heart and enthusiasm his team displayed in the second half against Seattle Prep on the first day of the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Tournament would carry over into Thursday's contest against Hampton (Va.) Phoebus.

Simply, that expectation wasn't met in the third-place game of the 4-team, U.S. Challenge Bracket against the aggressive Phantoms.

The Cougars (6-7) never led for the second-straight day, falling behind by 13 at the half with 13 turnovers, before suffering a 75-52 loss at Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of N.C. State University.

"I thought with the effort we gave and as well as we played last night, I thought tonight we would put on a better showing. I was wrong," Jordan said. "We had some guys tonight that didn't show up to play, but we had some guys that did.

"We just didn't give an effort today."

From the onset, Phoebus' pressure defense flustered Goldsboro's guards as the Cougars took two difficult shots and had two turnovers on their first four possessions and fell behind 6-0 early.

Thanks to the scoring of Tim Kornegay, who had a game-high 29 points on his way to all-tournament honors, Goldsboro cut the first-quarter deficit to 8-6 with four minutes left. But the Cougars would never get that close again the rest of the afternoon.

Keyed by pressure defense and Brent Vinson's ability to make tough layups in traffic, the Phantoms (4-3) answered with an 11-4 run in the final four minutes to lead 19-10 after one quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Goldsboro's post catalyst Daquan Joyner, also named to the all-tournament team, picked up his second foul -- forcing him to sit the rest of the half. Without their big man, the Cougars hung tough until the middle stages of the quarter, before Vinson and his teammates continued to create turnovers to take a 37-24 margin heading into the break.

"We wanted to step up our on -- and off-the-ball defense. The off-the-ball defense has been a weak area for this team and we wanted to grow on it," Phoebus coach James Daniel said. "We wanted to step up and challenge the passing lanes and create easy baskets."

Goldsboro never put together a consistent run after intermission. In fact, the Cougars managed just nine points in the third quarter and trailed by as much as 47-27 after a tip-in by Vinson. Vinson, a highly-touted Division I football recruit, was one of four Phantoms in double figures with 17 points.

Preston Short (12 points), Aaron Ward (11 points) and David West (10 points) also reached double digits, while two more teammates had at least seven points.

Meanwhile, Kornegay was the only Goldsboro player with more than five points. Joyner was held to a season-low four points on 1-of-4 shooting.

"It was hard, because I didn't have anybody to look down to," said Kornegay, who was in foul trouble himself last night.

Phoebus sprinted out to a 10-0 spurt to start the fourth quarter, highlighted by an open-court, one-handed dunk by the left-handed Vinson.

Jordan hopes the experience of playing in the GSK tournament will reap dividends down the road for his junior-laden squad.

"I think it was a great experience for us. We played nationally known teams and hopefully it will make us better for the conference," Jordan said. "We put this schedule together on purpose, so it will help us be better down the stretch."

Notes: Linfield (N.J.) Christian Brothers defeated Seattle (Wa.) Prep 42-26 in the championship game. ... Goldsboro averaged 11 points-per-quarter during the two-day tournament, while its opposition averaged just over 15 points. ... The Cougars shot a combined 37 percent against Seattle Prep and Phoebus, who shot a combined 45 percent against Goldsboro. ... Four of Goldsboro's seven losses this season have been in tournament play.

34th Annual GlaxoSmithKline

Holiday Tournament

4-team, U.S. Challenge Bracket

Third-place game

(at Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh)

Phoebus (Va.) 19 18 15 23 -- 75

Goldsboro 10 14 9 19 -- 52

PHOEBUS (4-3)

Aaron Ward 5 0 1-3 11, Preston Short 5 0 2-5 12, Nicholas Booker 0 0 1-2 1, Thurston Howard 2 0 3-4 7, Brent Vinson 6 0 5-12 17, LaRon Davis 2 0 4-7 8, Antonio Chaffin 1 1 0-0 5, David West 5 0 0-0 10, Demetrius Ward 1 0 0-0 2, Sean Cary 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 28 1 16-33 75.

GOLDSBORO (6-7)

Tim Kornegay 12 0 5-11 29, Joe Houpe 0 0 1-2 1, Daquan Joyner 1 0 2-2 4, Eric McLean 1 0 0-0 2, Clifton Lawson 0 1 2-3 5, Treme Boone 1 0 2-2 4, Mike Isler 0 0 1-2 1, Antonio Green 2 0 0-0 2, Burnie Best 1 0 0-4 2. TOTALS -- 18 1 13-27 52.

3-point goals -- Phoebus 1 (Chaffin), Goldsboro 1 (Lawson). Turnovers -- Phoebus 18, Goldsboro 29. Total fouls -- Phoebus 19, Goldsboro 21. Fouled out -- Hobbs. Technical fouls -- none.