Eastern Wayne boys slip past Triton
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 5, 2010 1:46 PM
There's a reason not much seems to rattle Eastern Wayne these days.
They've been through the fires and lived to tell about it.
The Warriors watched a 14-point lead shrink to one, but hung on for a 61-58 victory over Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference foe Triton on Thursday evening.
Eastern Wayne improved to 7-3 in games decided by five points or less this season.
"We're a pretty high-spirited bunch," said Warriors head coach Marvin Bowman. "I give them credit for working hard to try to get the job done. Especially down the stretch and in situations where we have opportunities."
Lamar Best's 3-pointer gave Eastern Wayne a 47-33 lead with fewer than four minutes left in the third quarter. The Hawks finished the third quarter with 11 unanswered points and pulled to within 47-44.
Triton trimmed the margin to a single point three times in the fourth quarter, but never tied the game or took the lead. Eastern Wayne forced six turnovers in the final 3 1/2 minutes and survived despite the Hawks scoring six of the game's final seven points.
"We hung in there," said Bowman. "I give those guys a lot of credit. The layoff might of affected us a little bit and it probably affected them some too. I was pleased with our effort."
Robert Washington led the Warriors (10-7 overall, 5-2 ECC) with 16 points. Will White added 14 points and Best finished with 13.
Lamar McDougald scored a game-high 20 points for Triton. David Gathers had 13 points and Antwan Johnson pitched in 12.
Eastern Wayne entertains state-ranked Charles B. Aycock tonight. The Warriors defeated the Golden Falcons 52-48 on Jan. 19 in Pikeville.
"Tomorrow is going to be a big game," said Bowman. "It will also be our senior night. It's something that we're looking forward to. There's very little preparation because of the weather we've been having, but we're really looking forward to it."