Soaring Falcons: Golden Falcons topple Cougars

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on December 7, 2008 2:00 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- Any doubters who remained after Charles B. Aycock defeated Goldsboro less than two weeks ago should be full-fledged believers now.

The Golden Falcons opened up a 14-point, first-quarter lead and used a solid defensive effort to beat the Cougars 64-56 on Friday evening. C.B. Aycock improved to 5-2 overall this season and snapped Goldsboro's four-game winning streak.

Molonza Hayes set Aycock's tempo with a 3-pointer.

The Cougars' Devonte White answered Hayes' 3 with a layup before the Golden Falcons rattled off 10 unanswered points to take a 12-2 lead less than four minutes into the game.

Things quickly went from bad to worse for Goldsboro (4-4 overall) as Demetrio Irby picked up his third foul late in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Golden Falcons' lead swelled to 22-8 after the opening period.

"They just wanted it more than we did tonight," said Cougars head coach Chris Cherry. "I give them a lot of credit. We just weren't mentally ready to play and as a coach I take full responsibility for that."

Tyquan Sprangle knocked down back-to-back 3's to open the second quarter and trimmed C.B. Aycock's advantage to 22-14. However, for every punch Goldsboro threw, the Golden Falcons were there to answer with a stronger counter-punch.

Aycock followed Sprangle's 3-pointers with six unanswered points of its own and Jonathan Williams scored six of his team-high 14 points during the second quarter to help his club take a 35-24 lead into halftime.

Williams finished with 14 points and 18 rebounds, and received a post-game reward from his coach for his efforts. Khendra Reid contributed 12 points and six rebounds, while Hayes added 12 points.

"Khendra is an All-American kid," said Golden Falcons head coach David West. "He's All-American in the classroom and All-American on the court. I gave (Jonathan) the game ball and I wrote his name, the score and his rebounds and points and gave it to him. He deserved it."

The Cougars again cut into the Aycock lead with a 9-4 run to start the second half and James Williams' jumper sliced the margin to 39-33. A battle-tested team that's no stranger to adversity, Aycock responded with a 10-2 run of its own that started with back-to-back buckets from Jonathan Williams.

"We talked about it at halftime and we knew they were going to make a run ... they're Goldsboro High School," said West. "We just knew that in order for us to continue to be successful like we were, we knew we had to stop the run. We held our composure and it's a sign of maturity."

Donald Lewis' 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter pulled Goldsboro to within 51-42 but the Golden Falcons scored seven straight points capped by Newsome's 3-pointer.

Defensively, Aycock held the Cougars in check all evening while limiting Goldsboro's open looks from the perimeter and working to win the battle on the boards. Tyrelle Jackson was the lone Cougar in double figures with 23 points. Irby, Goldsboro's go-to scorer while Keovanta McDuffie recovers from a knee injury, finished with only four points.

The Cougars were just 5 of 16 from the free throw line.

"Coach (Patrick) Reynell, you've got to give him credit for that," said West. "He's our defensive guru and it took us two years to get to the point where we finally had the horses to run the defense that we're in right now. We've gotten to that point.

"We do run a very tough defense because you have to have a lot of gas in the tank to do it."

Goldsboro entertains county rival Eastern Wayne on Tuesday, while the Golden Falcons visit Greene Central.