Bruins seize control early against CBA

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on January 11, 2009 2:00 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- Wilson Beddingfield started its Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference opener in solid fashion Friday evening.

Resurging Charles B. Aycock seemed no match.

The Bruins forced the tempo with slick perimeter defense and quick hands underneath the basket from the opening tip and ran away with a 62-46 victory. Beddingfield exited 7-7 overall, while the Golden Falcons dipped to 11-4.

"I really think something has clicked defensively over the last two weeks," said first-year Bruins head coach Jeremy Howard. "We worked hard on defense and showed a lot of looks, and tonight it paid off."

Beddingfield opened the game with a 6-0 run in the first two minutes.

Aycock answered with a 5-0 spurt and the teams traded baskets throughout the remainder of the opening half. Isaac Ryals controlled the Golden Falcons' offensive pace with several quick moves to the basket that resulted in scoring chances underneath the basket.

"That's something we worked on this week in practice," said Golden Falcons assistant coach Patrick Reynell said. "We wanted to attack the rim, and we were able to do that early."

C.B. Aycock head coach David West missed the game due to a seminar in Hickory, which left Reynell to preside over the Golden Falcons.

Beddingfield led 24-20 at halftime.

The third quarter spelled disaster for the home team as the Bruins picked up the pace from fast to frantic. Led by Terry Davis and X-Keem Jones the Bruins continually pushed the tempo off turnovers and defensive rebounds.

An 11-2 run midway through the third period extended the Bruins lead to 41-26. They preserved the advantage throughout a physically-played fourth quarter.

"They started to run a little bit more, and to their credit they were finishing plays with hustle points," said Reynell. "Their big guys are all very long and they get up the court extremely well, and they used that to their advantage."

The Bruins forced 23 Golden Falcon turnovers.

Davis was the game's leading scorer with 14 points. The talented forward also pulled down nine rebounds. Andre Roundtree added 12 points for the Bruins and Jones scored 10.

Charles B. Aycock was paced by Ryals' 10-point effort. Jonathan Williams and Molonza Hayes each added eight points. Tyheim Pitt finished with seven points and eight rebounds.

"We knew coming in that they were a very balanced team offensively," said Howard. "To hold them to 46 points is a real accomplishment. They didn't win 11 games by accident, so we knew it would take our best effort to come in here and get this win."