Greenfield wins battle of CPIC heavyweights

By Steve Roush
Published in Sports on January 25, 2006 2:45 PM

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Chad Wiggins looked like a coach whose team just went toe-to-toe with the No. 2-ranked team in the state.

He was dripping with sweat, his tie loosened, his hair messed and his dress shirt hanging out on one side.

His team, the No. 5 state-ranked Wayne Country Day Chargers, had just lost to the Knights of Greenfield. The Chargers, led by Adam Wright's game-high 29 points, were up by as many as five in the third quarter, only to see the visitors pull away in the final period and take a 80-65 victory back to Wake County.

He knew his Chargers had a chance to win this one, but was still proud of his guys.

"This is our rival," Wiggins said. "They are one of the top teams in the state and they've won the state championship three of the last four years. This was one we were looking forward to and we didn't back down."

Tavon Waters added 15 points for the Chargers (17-7, 4-1 CPIC), but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.

"Tavon and Adam played well, but they were off just a little bit," Wiggins said. "If either had broken loose like either one is capable of doing on any given night, it could have been a whole different ballgame."

While Waters cooled off, Greenfield forward Mike Flowers heated up -- scoring 17 of his 23 points in the second half.

After Wright drove in for a layup to give the Chargers a 45-42 lead with less than three minutes left in the third quarter, Flowers drained his first of two 3-pointers on Greenfield's next possession to tie the game. After a Wayne Country Day miss, Flowers scored again to up the visitors up by two. Waters tied the game with a nifty jumper, but the Knights (19-6, 5-1) retook the lead as Flowers calmly hit another three at the 1:35 mark.

They never trailed again.

"Flowers got hot and that put the game away," Wiggins said. "He's a transfer and we didn't know a whole lot about him ... I guess now we do."

The Chargers finished the night with eight 3-pointers, but had trouble finding their range during the final eight minutes as the Knights outscored the home team 23-15 in the quarter.

"We live by the three, and sometimes we die by the three," Wiggins said. "The three and our outside shooting kept us in it for three quarters. But we missed a lot of shots in the fourth quarter that we usually make."

Aaron Suggs led the Knights with 24 points on the night, with Donovan Jones and David Lieber adding 16 and 10 points, respectively.

For the Chargers, Jeff Franklin and Philip Weeks scored seven points apiece.

"The final score wasn't indicative of how good of a game this was," Wiggins said. "I'm proud of the guys."

Wayne Country Day returns to action Friday as the Chargers travel to Rocky Mount to play Faith Christian.