CB Aycock tops North Johnston

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on December 11, 2008 1:46 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Charles B. Aycock overcame a slow offensive start and went on to defeat North Johnston 67-48 on Wednesday night.

The Panthers opened up a seven-point lead in the opening two minutes on the heels of a pair of Golden Falcon turnovers and a Justin Price slam dunk.

Aycock head coach David West called timeout and changed his team's mindset.

"We got behind right out of the gate and we had to get things turned around," said West. "I thought a big part of that was keeping our guys calm and keeping them from panicking."

The Golden Falcons turned the tide with renewed defensive vigor and grabbed a 31-26 lead by halftime.

Aside from losing their early lead, the Panthers also had foul trouble brewing on their bench as the third quarter opened. Price picked up his third foul just seconds into the second half. Teammate Josh Best joined him on the bench two possessions later.

Aycock took advantage with continued pressure from the perimeter.

Tyheim Pitt and Isaac Ryals continually got to the basket and found open forwards underneath. A 13-3 run that spanned the closing moments of the third quarter and the opening seconds of the fourth sealed the Panthers' fate.

The Golden Falcons increased their lead to as many as 21 points during the final eight minutes.

"We want to be able to create offense with the drive, and ultimately we want to get to the free throw line as many times as possible," said West. "I didn't think we did a particularly good job from the foul line, but I'm a coach ... every miss seems like 10 misses."

On the night the Golden Falcons made 17 free throws including 7-of-10 in the fourth quarter.

Pitt paced the balanced C.B. Aycock offense with 15 points. Ryals, Molonza Hayes, Kyle LaFlamme and Jonathan Williams each scored nine points.

"That's every coach's dream to have multiple guys that can score on any given night," said West. "It's really been a theme of our season thus far, having a bunch of guys excel in the offense."

Bryan Williams led the Panthers' attack with 17 points. Price posted 16 points, but only two in the second half, before fouling out.

The Golden Falcons improved to 7-2 on the season.

"All 7-2 means is that we've played nine games," said West. "We have a lot of basketball left to play and we know we have to keep improving."