County rivals go into overtime

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on November 24, 2010 1:47 PM

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Eastern Wayne had Goldsboro on the ropes more than once, but couldn't deliver the knockout punch.

The Cougars erased a 10-point, third-quarter deficit and escaped with a 60-53, overtime win on Tuesday night in New Hope.

Eastern Wayne led 39-29 before Goldsboro went on an 11-0 run over the final 21/2 minutes of the third quarter to take a 40-39 lead into the fourth quarter. After turning the ball over 10 times in the first half, the Cougars gave the ball away just once in the third quarter.

"Hopefully that's our identity that we won't go away," said Goldsboro head coach Patrick Reynell. "We're not a great offensive team. We don't have that one guy that we're going to be able to rely on every night. In the third and fourth quarter we started to attack their zone in the middle and fill the backside lane.

"Give credit to our juniors in their first varsity experience, by surprising the heck out of me with the maturity they showed in the second half."

The Cougars turned the ball over late in the fourth quarter and the Warriors had the final possession of regulation with 25 seconds remaining and the score tied at 50-50. After point guard Lamar Best dribbled out the majority of the time left on the clock, Eastern Wayne failed to get a shot off.

Goldsboro outscored the Warriors 10-3 during the overtime period. Eastern Wayne went scoreless during the first two minutes of the extra frame.

"The momentum swung our way a little bit," said Reynell. "Devonte (White) started to understand their zone a little bit. Robert (Kornegay) started to understand where his scoring was coming from. I haven't seen the maturity in a practice or a scrimmage that we showed tonight."

Cougars' center James Williams controlled the boards during the second half and overtime, grabbing nine of his 13 rebounds after intermission. Williams finished with 10 points. Forward Darmarian Henderson added 16 points and nine rebounds. Robert Kornegay supplied 15 points and six rebounds.

Lee Atkinson paced the Warriors with 16 points. Brandon Williams had 10. Javon Darden pulled down eight rebounds to go with six points.

Goldsboro (1-0 overall) plays host to Rocky Mount Prep on Nov. 30, while Eastern Wayne (0-1) entertains Havelock on Dec. 3.