Goldsboro boys hold of E. Wayne
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on December 30, 2010 1:47 PM
It was not a classic.
But the Goldsboro Cougars still put on a pretty good show.
Goldsboro finally got to take the floor after two days worth of postponements and held off county rival Eastern Wayne 62-55 on Wednesday night.
Snow and ice forced a complete schedule overall that included scrapping the "Cougar Classic" which was supposed to feature Eastern Wayne, Southern Wayne and James Kenan. Instead the Cougars and Warriors hooked up for a traditional non-conference game at Norvell T. Lee gymnasium.
The early minutes belonged to the visitors as Eastern Wayne opened up a three-point lead in the first quarter behind some hot shooting from Lee Atkinson. Goldsboro rallied in the final minute of the period and took a 19-17 lead on a desperation 3-pointer by Devonte White as the buzzer sounded.
"After having such a long layoff with the holiday and the weather, I was glad to see my guys come out and compete," Goldsboro head coach Patrick Reynell said. "I feel like there have been games this season where we weren't ready to go all out from the opening tip, but tonight we did that."
The Cougars used their significant size advantage in the frontcourt to extend the lead to eight points at the intermission. A back-and-forth third quarter was an exercise in futility as the teams traded baskets and the lead hovered around 10 points.
Eastern Wayne battled back in the final eight minutes.
Behind some up-tempo defense from guards Lamar Best and Tykwan Days the Warriors cut the Cougars' lead to three points (58-55) with just under two minutes to play.
"I was pleased that we answered the challenge in the fourth quarter," Eastern Wayne head coach Marvin Bowman said. "We got ourselves in a position where we just needed to knock down a couple shots, but we fell short."
A pair of costly turnovers in the final 45 seconds led to four points by the Cougars, including two game-clinching free throws by James Williams, to seal the contest.
White paced the Goldsboro offense with 17 points. Williams added 12 points and seven rebounds. Robert Kornegay and Damarian Henderson each scored seven points in the win.
Best and Atkinson each scored 15 points to lead the Warriors' attack. Josiah Davis added 12 points and five rebounds.
Eastern Wayne (7-4 overall) will enjoy a week off before traveling to Southern Wayne on Jan.4. Goldsboro (8-2) will host the Saints tonight for another non-conference county matchup.