Warriors upend Wildcats

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 23, 2009 1:46 PM

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CLAYTON -- It was a perfect timeout.

Bunn shaved the deficit to within a single point and Eastern Wayne head coach Marvin Bowman asked for the 60-second break when point guard Lamar Best crossed midcourt.

Always calm, Bowman reminded his team to capitalize on the mismatch inside against the smaller Wildcats. When the Warriors returned to the court, Gerrel Davis fed Marvin Bowman Jr. a bounce pass, and the senior forward swished a turnaround jumper in the lane.

The basket fueled a game-ending, 10-0 run and Eastern Wayne upended Bunn 38-27 for third-place honors in the 2009 Clayton Christmas Classic on Tuesday evening.

"Some guys rose to the challenge," said coach Bowman.

Davis certainly did. The small forward supplied eight of his game-high 12 points in the third quarter and pulled down six rebounds in a reserve role.

"Gerrel posted up and was able to exploit his mismatch (inside)," said Bowman. "He played very well, is coming along and starting to understand the game. He's going to help us down the stretch."

Eastern Wayne (5-5 overall) started slow and carried a 17-15 lead into halftime. The Warriors held the Wildcats without a field goal in the third period and pushed their advantage to 27-17.

Bunn stormed back.

Jeremy Melvin's two-handed dunk ignited an 8-0 run over the next three-plus minutes. Andre Davis buried a 3-pointer off Raven Sills' assist, and Sills turned a steal into a layup.

Melvin's layup closed the gap to 28-27, which forced Bowman to burn a timeout. Bowman Jr.'s short shot off Davis' assist and Dominique Saddler's free throw extended the lead to 31-27.

The Wildcats (3-5) misfired on their next couple of possessions and the Warriors went to the spread offense. Senior point guard Lamar Best and senior forward Will White played a two-man passing game near the midcourt stripe, and Bunn eventually started to foul.

Best drained 6 of 6 free throws during a 44-second span to seal the deal.

"We wanted to spread them out and get some spacing, but continue to attack the basket," said Bowman. "Lamar hit some big free throws."

Best collected nine points, including a 7 of 8 effort at the free throw line. White contributed seven points and seven rebounds. Seven Warriors scored at least one basket in the road victory.