Playoff bound: Warriors secure league's No. 4 bid

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 13, 2008 2:23 PM

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If Marvin Bowman can coax out of his Eastern Wayne Warriors in next week's Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference tournament the same type of effort they gave on Tuesday night the possibilities could be limitless.

The Warriors played smothering defense, placed all 11 players in the scoring column and crushed visiting rival Charles B. Aycock 79-36. The same two squads battled from start to finish in late January with Eastern Wayne pulling out a 62-57 decision in Pikeville.

The Warriors (8-13 overall, 4-5 ECC) held Aycock without a point for the first seven minutes of the ballgame and jumped to an 11-2 lead after one quarter. Eastern Wayne benefited from the Golden Falcons inability to convert layups and knock down open looks from the perimeter.

Colton Butler's layup capped an 8-0 Warriors' run to open the second quarter that stretched the lead to 19-2. With 14 minutes gone in the first half Aycock (3-20, 2-7) had seven turnovers and just two points.

"I thought our seniors played really inspired at the beginning," Eastern Wayne head coach Marvin Bowman said. "Tonight our kids played with a purpose, I think. Sometimes that gives you a little added energy, I think, and we got the stops we needed to get defensively."

The Golden Falcons' Isaac Royals closed the half with one of Aycock's three first-half field goals but the Warriors led 27-7 at the break.

Turnovers, 26 of them in all, plagued a young Golden Falcons club all night. Even when it got stops on the defensive end, Aycock struggled to turn them into points.

"We tried to keep a little more pressure on the ball," Bowman said. "The last time we played them I think we allowed their guards a little too much flexibility and tonight we didn't allow them as much once they crossed midcourt."

In search of answers late in the third quarter Golden Falcons' head coach David West pulled his starters in favor of five reserves looking for anything to spark his ballclub.

Eastern Wayne closed the game on a 24-7 run that started less than midway through the fourth quarter and put a fitting end on a senior night performance that left Bowman optimistic about his squad's potential. The Warriors visit state-ranked Kinston on Thursday.

"We've got a couple of wins ... and I just want our kids to play well and do the things we've been trying to teach them to do and I'll be pleased," Bowman said. "It would be nice to go into Kinston and knock them off but I just hope we go in there and do what we do."

Daviyon Whisonant led all scorers with 21 points. Jamere Thomas added 12 and Will White had 10. Isaac Royals, Khendra Reid and Jordan Riley each scored five points for Aycock.

The Golden Falcons travel to Southern Wayne on Thursday.