Chargers storm back, down C.B. Aycock

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on January 4, 2006 2:13 PM

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Wayne Country Day junior Shadoe Stewart may be overshadowed in the box score by teammates Adam Wright and Tavon Waters, but Stewart and a handful of role players proved just as crucial down the stretch for the Chargers against Charles B. Aycock.

Stewart, Jeff Franklin and Ben Strickland combined for 15 big points in the fourth quarter as the Chargers erupted for 36 points in the final eight minutes in a 96-91 win in front of a loud, overflow crowd at the WCDS gymnasium.

Wright, who is averaging 30 points per game, dropped in 37 points, while Waters contributed 30 points. Wright drilled six, 3-pointers as Waters hit three from behind the arch in a game full of plenty of offense.

"Shadoe's my spark plug. He's all heart and his intensity picked our intensity up," Wayne Country Day boys coach Chad Wiggins said.

Aycock (4-9), which led 67-60 after the third quarter, put three in double figures with Lamada Williams (28 points), Santavin Poole (23 points) and Rob Phillips (19 points) leading the way.

In the girls game, the Lady Golden Falcons jumped out to a 15-0 lead, scoring mostly off WCDS turnovers, in the first three minutes and never looked back in an easy, 78-16 win.

Aycock coach Luke Vail, who picked up his 200th win as a varsity girls coach, was pleased with his teams' defense and their ability to jump out to an early lead.

"The best thing that happened was we jumped out to an early lead. We wanted to practice taking the press on and off," Vail said. "We wanted to give a lot of players some playing time. We tried to split the time up pretty even, and get some players used to varsity basketball."

Emily Stewart led a balanced Falcon effort with 16 points, while Jazzmine Lee and Quaneisha Milner posted 10 points each. Eleven Aycock players scored and eight finished with six points or more as the Falcons (8-5) won their fifth game in six outings.

The Chargers (4-6), playing without injured point guard and leading scorer Tiara Broadie, never got on track offensively and finished with just six field goals. Ashley Clark led WCDS with seven points.

"My team, even with Tiara, is very young. I'm proud of the girls. They were trying, and that's all I ask," WCDS girls coach Toni Ingram said. "C.B. Aycock is a fine team, and we wanted to play good quality teams this year, so it will help us be ready in the conference and playoffs."

The first half of the boys game proved to be a see-saw battle with the Chargers taking a 45-40 lead into intermission after a strong finish to the second quarter.

In a second half of runs and a game full of plenty of offense, the Golden Falcons, who had plenty of support from their frenzied fans, fell behind 52-45 with six minutes left in the third after a lay-up by the Chargers' Phillip Weeks.

From there, Aycock stepped up defensively and on the boards and got some tough baskets by Williams and Poole. In a three-minute span, the Falcons posted a 16-0 run and went ahead 61-52. Despite a perfectly-timed alley-oop pass from Waters to Wright, the visitors maintained their lead through the rest of the quarter and took a seven-point advantage into the final quarter.

WCDS quickly got back to work in the fourth. Paced by a steal-and-score by Waters and a pull-up 3-pointer by Wright, the Chargers cut the margin down to 73-71 during a 13-4 spurt in the first three minutes.

"We started getting back on defense, and not giving up so many easy baskets," Wiggins said. "Adam was unbelievable again, and Tavon hit some big ones down the stretch."

Shortly after, Franklin knocked down a three from the top of the key, then Stewart added an old-fashioned 3-point play to put WCDS ahead for good at 81-78. With three minutes left, Phillips, who had 13 of his 19 in the second quarter, picked up his fifth foul - leaving Aycock without one of its best scoring options during the shootout.

Wright and Franklin added one more, 3-point play each, while Stewart hit a tough jump shot in the paint as the Charger margin swelled to 91-81 with one minute left. Despite the deficit, Aycock never went away as Brandon Price drained a long, 3-pointer to make it 93-88 with 14 seconds left, before WCDS put the game away at the free-throw line.

After shooting a chilly, 4-of-14 (28 percent) from the stripe through the first three quarters, the Chargers bounced back to shoot 9-of-13 (69 percent) in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Falcons shot 18-of-32 (56 percent) on the game, but made just 2-of-7 (28 percent) in the final quarter.

"It was a great game. Both teams out-did themselves," Aycock boys coach David West said. "It was a race-horse basketball game, but there was also some good defense. We missed 14 free throws and lost by five. It's the little things that turn into big things later."

Both teams begin their respective conference action on Friday. The Chargers travel to Coastal Plains Independent 1-A/2-A Conference foe, Kerr-Vance, while Aycock travels to Wilson Beddingfield in Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference play.

Girls

C.B. Aycock 26 20 22 10 -- 78

WCDS 7 2 2 5 -- 16

C.B. AYCOCK (8-5)

Emily Stewart 7 0 2-4 16, Quaneisha Milner 5 0 0-0 10, Erin Medford 1 2 0-0 8, Quita Broadie 4 0 0-0 8, Jazzmine Lee 5 0 0-0 10, Chantel Gaines 3 0 1-2 7, Jasmine Dobbins 2 0 3-5 7, Janay Dickerson 1 0 0-0 2, Chelsea Jackson 1 0 0-0 2, Lauren Pratt 3 0 0-0 6, Meagan Yelverton 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS - 33 2 6-11 78.

WCDS

Ashley Clark 2 1 0-0 7, Georgia Crow 1 0 0-0 2, Molly Peacock 1 0 1-3 3, Virginia Best 1 0 2-2 4. TOTALS - 5 1 3-5 16.

3-point goals - C.B. Aycock 2 (Medford 2), WCDS 1 (Clark). Turnovers - C.B. Aycock 17, WCDS 33. Total fouls - C.B. Aycock 6, WCDS 9. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none.

Boys

C.B. Aycock 21 19 27 24 -- 91

WCDS 19 26 15 36 -- 96

C.B. AYCOCK (4-9)

Santavin Poole 10 0 3-8 23, Lamada Williams 6 3 1-2 28, Rob Phillips 5 1 6-7 19, Montez Ham 4 0 1-3 9, Brandon Price 0 1 4-4 7, Tim Alston 3 0 3-6 9, Evan Medford 1 0 0-2 2. TOTALS - 29 5 18-32 91.

WCDS

Adam Wright 8 6 3-10 37, Tavon Waters 8 3 5-9 30, Jeff Franklin 2 1 2-3 8, Shadoe Stewart 3 0 2-3 8, Ben Strickland 0 3 0-0 9, Phillip Weeks 1 0 1-2 3. TOTALS - 22 13 13-27 96.

3-point goals - C.B. Aycock 5 (Williams 3, Phillips, Price), WCDS 13 (Wright 6, Waters 3, Strickland 3, Franklin). Turnovers - C.B. Aycock 13, WCDS 8. Total fouls - C.B. Aycock 23, WCDS 20. Fouled out - Phillips (CBA), Ham (CBA). Technical fouls - Poole (CBA).