Goldsboro boys 'steal' game from Spring Creek

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on January 23, 2010 11:10 PM

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Four games into its first season in the Carolina 1-A Conference, Goldsboro isn't finding its new league to be the cakewalk many outside the program believed it would be.

The Cougars rallied from a five-point deficit with a minute to play and defeated league foe Spring Creek 70-65 on Friday night inside Norvell T. Lee Gymnasium. Goldsboro improved to 4-0 in conference play.

The Gators led 65-60 before Matt Woodard's 3-pointer trimmed the margin to 65-63. The Cougars' Demetrio Irby stole Kenneth Freeman's inbounds pass and was fouled while making a layup.

Irby knocked down the ensuing free throw to give Goldsboro the lead for good at 66-65 with 46 seconds remaining. Irby scored 15 points.

"We put pressure on them," said Irby. "I saw the play the whole time because the press is made to take away the reverse pass. When they passed the ball in, I just went to my spot and stole it. We've got pride, a lot of pride."

Spring Creek opened the final quarter on a 13-2 run and led 60-51 with a just over four minutes to play. The Cougars responded by closing on a 19-5 spurt that included the last 10 points of the ballgame.

"I felt like Goldsboro stepped up," said Gators head coach Taylor Jones. "We had them on the ropes. At the end Goldsboro made a run and there just wasn't quite enough time on the clock for us to make a run back."

Goldsboro (10-6 overall) was forced to play the final five minutes without Rasean Brewington after Brewington fouled out. Brewington finished with a game-high 28 points, 15 of which came in the first half. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

"I was very pleased with our poise not getting too down, especially with Rasean on the bench," said Cougars head coach Patrick Reynell. "He's our top scorer and rebounder. On any given night any team in this league can compete. There's very good teams in 1-A and there's very good teams in this conference that can make a deep run."

Goldsboro held a 44-35 advantage midway through the third quarter, but John Midgette's 3-pointer pulled the Gators within 49-47 entering the final eight minutes.

Midgette led Spring Creek (5-9, 0-4 CC) with 18 points, Anthony Green chipped in 15 and Melvin DeVeaux added 13. Kenneth Freeman pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds to go with eight points.

"Our kids' intensity was off the charts," said Jones. "I felt like our kids played really well. I love our heart. We're 0-4 in this conference, but we could be 3-1 and maybe 4-0. All the games we've been into. That tests our toughness and my coaching ability.

"My kids aren't quitters."

The Cougars travel to Ayden-Grifton on Tuesday night, while the Gators play host to border rival North Duplin.