High School hoops: Goldsboro finishes 0-2 at Glaxo

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on December 31, 2006 2:09 AM

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RALEIGH -- The Goldsboro Cougars spent their two games in the Glaxo-SmithKline Invitational trying to dig themselves out of holes for victories.

Unfortunately, their efforts came up short both times.

Against the Knightdale Knights, the Cougars once again dug themselves into a deep hole -- this time a 15-point, third-quarter deficit -- and fell to Knightdale 71-65 in the third-place game on Friday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.

"We can't get a win in this building," said Goldsboro coach Randy Jordan, whose team dropped to 0-4 at the Reynolds Coliseum. "I don't question their heart or their intensity, but we've got to stop digging ourselves in a hole. It was a great effort, but I'm not big on moral victories."

Goldsboro's Daquan Joyner did all he could for the Cougars (9-4), scoring a game-high 22 points and pulling down five rebounds. Tim Kornegay also had another strong game, adding 14 points. Both were named to the all-tournament team.

Knightdale (12-2) placed three players in double figures, led by Dijon Manns' 16 points. All-tournament pick Stanley Okoye added 14 and Nate Wilkins finished with 12 points.

In the first half, Goldsboro was a step slower to the ball and was held off the glass on both ends of the court.

Manns was in the right place for offensive rebounds and easy layups against the Cougars.

"Our job was to keep them off the boards," said Knightdale coach Battle Watkins, whose Knights outrebounded the Cougars 19-9 in the first half. "Dijon played well for us on the boards."

Jordan blamed his team's lack of defense as a contributing factor to the Cougars inability to snatch rebounds.

"We gave up the baseline way too many times which allowed (Knightdale) to get weakside rebounds," said Jordan. "That's just a lack of defending."

After the teams played to an 18-18 tie at the end of the first quarter, the Cougars fell behind 38-30 at the half.

"We just didn't come out and play in the first half," Kornegay said. "We keep having to play catch up."

In the third quarter, Goldsboro dug themselves an even deeper hole.

An old-fashioned three-point play from Dennis Chineke capped a 7-0 spurt for the Knights, who extended their lead to 50-35 with 3:03 to go in the quarter.

"We just weren't crashing the boards or getting back on defense, and that put us in a hole," Joyner said. "We have to play as a team and not as a bunch of individuals."

Goldsboro began to play united as Joyner, Kornegay and Jameson Wellington all scored baskets in a 9-0 run that cut the lead to six at 50-44.

Back-to-back offensive rebound jumpers from Okoye and Malcolm Jones to end the quarter pushed the Knight lead back to 10 at 54-44.

The Cougars made one last attempt to dig themselves out of a hole in the final quarter.

Tremé Boone scored six points, including a rebound putback, to finish off a 13-5 run, pulling Goldsboro to within 59-57 with 4:12 remaining.

"(Tremé is) playing hard and making better decisions offensively," Jordan said.

Watkins then took a much needed timeout to settle his Knights down.

"(In the timeout) we talked about playing smart basketball and recommitting ourselves to the defensive end," Watkins said. "We needed to be smarter on offense."

The Knights took their coach's advice and scored eight straight points over the next two minutes -- all coming courtesy of baskets from point-blank range. During that same time, Goldsboro missed three shots and committed three turnovers, sealing the victory for Knightdale.

"We're excited to win one," Watkins said. "Winning one is better than none."

Another opportunity to win a game in the prestigious tournament had passed by the Cougars.

"It's a great tournament for us to come to," Jordan said. "We again feel like we let two games slip away from us.

"We're very talented, there's no question about that, but we have to bring it to the table every day."

NOTES: Tim Hobbs was injured and left the game with 5:35 to go in the second quarter and did not return. Jordan called the injury a "good sprain" and said his status was day-to-day ... Goldsboro will return to action on Tuesday when they play host to Rocky Mount.

Goldsboro 18 12 14 21 -- 65

Knightdale 18 20 16 17 -- 71

GOLDSBORO (9-4)

Tim Kornegay 5 0 4-5 14, Burnie Best 0 1 0-0 3, Daquan Joyner 5 3 3-5 22, Tim Hobbs 1 0 2-2 4, Tremé Boone 2 0 4-5 8, Antonio Green 0 0 2-2 2, Tavon Murchison 0 0 0-0 0, Eric McLean 3 0 0-0 6, Jamar Branch 0 0 0-0 0, Kevonta McDuffie 1 0 0-0 2, Jameson Wellington 2 0 0-0 4, Aric Sinclair 0 0 0-0 0. TOTALS -- 19 4 15-19 65.

KNIGHTDALE (12-2)

Antonio Moffitt 4 0 0-0 8, Stanley Okoye 5 0 4-6 14, Randolph Howell 3 0 0-0 6, Malcolm Jones 3 0 0-1 6, Nate Wilkins 4 0 4-5 12, Christian Floyd 0 0 0-0 0, Dijon Manns 6 1 1-2 16, Dennis Chineke 2 0 1-1 5, Javah Braswell 2 0 0-0 4, Tim McNeil 0 0 0-0 0. TOTALS -- 29 1 10-15 71.

Rebounds -- Goldsboro 21 (Joyner 5). Knightdale 30 (Manns 8). Assists -- Goldsboro 5 (Best 3). Knightdale -- 8 (Moffitt 4). Turnovers -- Goldsboro 8. Knightdale 10. Total fouls -- Goldsboro 16. Knightdale 14.