SC bows out

By Steve Roush
Published in Sports on February 26, 2006 2:19 AM

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KENANSVILLE -- It was a bittersweet moment, but Sonny Kilpatrick couldn't help but smile.

As the third-year Spring Creek coach and his Gators accepted their sectional runner-up trophy, Kilpatrick could only think about how far his young team had come in a relatively short time, not Saturday night's 66-51 loss to Coastal Plains Conference champ Lejeune.

After all, not so long ago, it appeared Spring Creek wouldn't even qualify for the state playoffs when the Gators were just 4-10. And other than a forgettable second quarter on Saturday, the Gators pretty much went toe-to-toe with the Devil Pups at historic Kenansville Memorial Auditorium.

"We don't have a superstar," Kilpatrick said with a hint of pride. "We have five, six, seven or so good players who play hard -- they have all year. Nobody picked us to win anything, and when were losing, when we were 4-10, no one thought we'd get to where we got. Hard work got us here, and I love every one of them."

Josh Wright led the Gators with 18 points, followed by Dalreese Bell with 17. Seniors Bell, Daniel Chewning (11 points) and Cliff Wilson (3 points) played their final hoops contest for Spring Creek, which finished the 2005-06 season at 14-15.

Pierre Singleton tallied a game-high 23 points for Lejeune (18-7), which is advancing to the district playoffs having won 14 straight and 16 of its last 17.

Led by Bell early, the Gators trailed just 16-13 after one quarter and were behind 20-17 after Wright laced a jumper at the 5:47 mark in the second period.

The Devil Pups, however, went on a 19-3 run to finish the half as six second-quarter turnovers by Spring Creek and foul trouble allowed Lejeune to take a 39-20 lead into the break. Wilson, forward Maurice Langston (0 points) and eighth-grade big man Desmund Raeford (2 points) all picked up their third foul in the second quarter and Wilson and Langston would go on to foul out. The Gators would cut the Devil Pup lead to 11 with five minutes left in the contest, but would get no closer.

"The second quarter killed us," Kilpatrick said. "Other than that, I'm proud of how we played. And I have to take the blame for a lot of what happened in the second quarter. We tried to play man-to-man, it didn't work and we got into foul trouble. We tried to catch up, but you can't play catch-up with a good team like Lejeune."

2006 N.C. High School

Athletic Association

Class 1-A Sectional Finals

(at Kenansville Auditorium)

Spring Creek 13 7 12 18 -- 51

Lejeune 16 23 8 19 -- 66

SPRING CREEK (14-5)

Cliff Wilson 0 1 0-0 3; Daniel Chewning 5 0 1-2 11; Maurice Langston 0 0 0-0 0; Dalreese Bell 2 4 1-4 17; Josh Wright 6 1 3-6 18; Phillip Williams 0 0 0-0 0; David Harris 0 0 0-0 0; Cody Rose 0 0 0-0 0; Orlando Grantham 0 0 0-0 0; Daniel Correll 0 0 0-0 0; Carsheme Ruffin 0 0 0-0 0; Desmund Raeford 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 14 6 5-14 51.

LEJEUNE (18-7)

Rodney Williams 7 0 3-5 17; Deric Alston 6 0 0-0 12; Jimmie Blair 2 0 0-3 4; Braxton Quick 0 0 0-2 0; Corey Barcus 3 0 0-0 6; Pierre Singleton 8 0 7-9 23; Curtis Brooks 2 0 0-0 4. TOTALS -- 28 0 10-19 66.

3-point goals -- Spring Creek, 6 (Wilson, Bell 4, Wright); Lejeune, none. Turnovers -- Spring Creek 20; Lejeune 18. Rebounds -- Spring Creek 17; Lejeune 32. Total fouls -- Spring Creek 18; Lejeune 13. Fouled out -- Spring Creek, Langston, Wilson; Lejeune, none. Technical fouls -- none.