Cougar boys beat Warriors for second time

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on December 12, 2007 3:24 PM

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Poise down the stretch.

It's one of many characteristics Goldsboro boys basketball coach Tod Morgan is hoping to instill in his team through a difficult non-conference schedule. He began to see glimpses of it Tuesday evening against county rival Eastern Wayne.

The Cougars (5-3 overall) played solid defense in the fourth quarter and rallied for a 50-44 victory over the Warriors. Morgan is now 5-1 against Wayne County teams this season.

Brittani Billups led four Eastern Wayne girls in double figures with 27 points in an 80-52 rout over Goldsboro. The Warriors collected their third consecutive win after a 2-2 start.

Goldsboro's boys trailed 32-31 entering the fourth quarter before getting some pivotal defensive stops and going 5-for-8 from the free throw line over the final eight minutes.

"I thought we played hard," Morgan said. "If you can hold teams under 50 (points) you have a chance to win night in and night out. This is a character-building kind of game against a county rival."

Demetrio Irby's 3-pointer started the fourth-quarter comeback. He collected eight of his 10 points in the last eight minutes.

Goldsboro outrebounded Eastern Wayne 12-4 during the final quarter, while getting Warriors' center Colton Butler in foul trouble and out of the game. The Warriors managed to get to free throw line just eight times, and knocked down only four of those attempts.

"We got out of our rotation because of foul trouble," Eastern Wayne head coach Marvin Bowman said. "I thought the momentum shifted at that point. A few baskets here, a few stops there, the game could have very easily been different."

The third quarter saw six lead changes and a pair of ties, with the lead never growing to more than three points.

With the score tied at 8-8 after one quarter, the flow of the game seemed to get away from Goldsboro during the second period. The Cougars turned the ball over seven times and were outrebounded 14-10. Nevertheless, Eastern Wayne (1-6) led 20-17 at halftime.

"I talked to our guys at halftime about how I thought we had let them dictate the pace and the tempo of the game," Morgan said. "We could have very easily been double digits down at halftime."

Goldsboro's Tavon Murchinson finished with a game-high 15 points and Tim Hobbs had 14. Irby added 10 points and Aric Sinclair contributed five. Will White led the Warriors with nine points, and Daviyon Whisonant had eight. Marvin Bowman and Butler each scored six points.

Forcing turnovers, attacking the boards and sharing the basketball were all on display as Eastern Wayne cruised in the girls game. The Warriors' Tiara McIntyre opened the game on a run of her own, single-handedly putting Eastern Wayne on top 8-0.

Goldsboro responded with a 7-0 spurt but from there it was all Eastern Wayne. The Warriors (5-2) outscored Goldsboro in every quarter but one, while making it difficult for the Cougars to get stops on the defensive end.

Goldsboro (4-4) tried multiple defensive looks to slow down Eastern Wayne and Billups. However, sagging in on Billups didn't always work and it wasn't enough, as McIntyre scored 13 points, Lindsey Frederick had 12 and Eboni Reid contributed 10.

"Brittani Billups is a great ballplayer, but I'm with this team every day (and) we're not a one person team," Eastern Wayne head coach Brent Holland said. "We're a well-balanced team, even though it doesn't show sometimes. Our girls do a great job of feeding Brittani, but it's not like they can't shoot the basketball."

Eastern Wayne visits Wilson Fike today while Goldsboro hosts Southern Wayne on Friday.

Boys game

Goldsboro -- 8 9 14 19 -- 50

Eastern Wayne -- 8 12 12 12 -- 44

GOLDSBORO (5-3)

Keovanta McDuffie 1 0 0-0 2, Donald Lewis 0 0 0-2 0, Tavon Murchison 6 0 3-4 15, Doshamora Simms 1 0 2-2 4, Demetrio Irby 3 1 1-2 10, Tim Hobbs 4 0 6-11 14, Aric Sinclair 2 0 1-2 5. TOTALS -- 17 1 13-23 50.

EASTERN WAYNE (1-6)

Jamere Thomas 0 1 0-0 3, Daviyon Whisonant 2 1 1-2 8, A.J. Dreighton 1 0 0-0 2, Will White 3 0 3-4 9, Hassan Best 2 0 0-0 4, Jaquirious Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Demetrius Morgan 0 0 0-0 0, Orlando Midgette 1 0 0-0 2, Cody Kirkham 1 0 0-0 2, Rashad Williams 1 0 0-0 2, Marvin Bowman 3 0 0-0 6, Colton Butler 3 0 0-0 6. TOTALS -- 17 1 4-8 44.

Girls game

Goldsboro -- 12 10 12 18 -- 52

Eastern Wayne -- 27 15 26 12 -- 80

GOLDSBORO (4-4)

Zeara McDuffie 0 1 1-6 4, Kiara Williams 5 5 1-4 26, Danielle Irby 4 0 1-2 9, Millicent Kornegay 5 0 3-6 13. TOTALS -- 14 6 6-16 52.

EASTERN WAYNE (5-2)

Lindsey Frederick 3 2 0-0 12, Brittany Franklin 2 0 0-0 4, Jazmine Middleton 1 0 2-3 4, Tiara McIntyre 2 3 0-0 13, Eboni Reid 4 0 2-5 10, Danielle Daniel 1 2 2-5 8, Brittani Billups 11 0 5-8 27, Shante Boseman 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 25 7 9-14 80.