Southern Wayne boys ride 24-0 run, rout county rival Eastern Wayne
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 23, 2010 11:10 PM
Marvin Bowman watched in disbelief.
Russell Stephens watched in awe.
And everyone talked about "the run" afterwards.
Southern Wayne scored 24 consecutive points in a six-minute stretch and hammered archrival Eastern Wayne 71-50 in an Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference boys' basketball contest Friday evening. The Saints (12-6 overall) remained atop the ECC at 4-0, while the Warriors (7-7) dipped to 2-2 in conference play.
"Sometimes you go in the woods and you get the bear," said Bowman of Eastern Wayne. "Sometimes you go in the woods and the bear gets you. The bear got us tonight."
Indeed.
The Warriors controlled the tempo in the opening quarter, attacked the basket and grabbed a 19-14 lead. Rashawn Barnes and Gerrell Davis each knocked down a field goal, which extended Eastern Wayne's advantage o 23-14, early in the second period.
"They came out with more energy than we did that first quarter," said Stephens, of Southern Wayne. "I thought maybe our legs were tired ... whatever. They were outplaying us getting to the basketball.
"They came ready to play."
The Saints' Khari Faison and Rashadd Hill became beasts on the board in the second quarter. The backcourt tandem of Justin Artis and Gary Woodard executed the offense with the precision of a Timex watch.
Southern Wayne contested every Eastern Wayne shot and limited the Warriors to one possession on the offensive end. Second-chance opportunities that were prevalent in the first period disappeared.
Faison and Tony Smith converted back-to-back possessions to start the mind-boggling run. Gross' 3-pointer off Woodard's assist gave the Saints their first lead, 25-24, with 4:45 to go before halftime.
Artis, Gross and Hill combined for the next 12 points as Southern Wayne waltzed into halftime ahead 37-24. The offensive surge sucked the life out of Eastern Wayne, which misfired on its final 14 possessions to close the opening half.
"Their energy level picked up, especially on the defensive end," said Bowman. "We started playing at their pace. They're quick and we didn't do a good job of getting a hand in their face, so they had some good looks at the basket during that time.
"Once their confidence got going, they fed off of that."
Southern Wayne built as much as a 25-point lead in the second half before each coach elected to give its reserves some playing time. Gross paced five Saints in double figures with 17 points. Artis scored 15, while John Joyner chipped in 11. Faison and Hill finished with 10 points apiece.
Eastern Wayne senior Will White emerged the game's top scorer with 19 points. Robert Washington added 10.