Aycock upends Cleveland
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on January 5, 2011 1:47 PM
PIKEVILLE -- The new year brought with it a change in perspective for the Charles B. Aycock varsity boys' basketball team and renewed focus on the future rather than the past.
The Golden Falcons put their 1-11 start behind them and executed down the stretch in a 70-56 win over Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference newcomer Cleveland on Tuesday night.
Aycock snapped a seven-game losing streak.
"What we've been stressing with everybody is it's a new year and it's a new beginning," said first-year Aycock head coach Steve Moats, whose team hadn't won since Dec. 6. "It's time to forget everything that happened in the last calendar year and to start over. We want to come out and play with energy and passion, and we did that tonight."
The Rams pulled to within 55-53 on Taiquan Dixon's 3-pointer with fewer than four minutes to play in regulation. The Golden Falcons responded with 10 unanswered points to take a 65-53 lead.
Aycock closed the game on a 15-3 run.
"Our seniors stepped up and played well," said Moats. "It was a good night all around for us. We had good consistent scoring, especially in the second half. Sometimes we struggle coming out of halftime."
Golden Falcons senior center Brandon Winford scored 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Cameron Rowe supplied 18 points, including two 3-pointers that helped Aycock jump in front early in the ballgame.
"A key to our offense is Brandon has to shoot well and that makes defenses collapse on him," said Moats. "A lot of things we run try to involve everyone in the offense. When we're making shots we're pretty good."
Julian Reid paced the Rams with 29 points, including 22 at the free throw line.
Eight of the Golden Falcons' nine remaining games are against ECC opponents. Moats is hoping Tuesday night's win and a change in outlook will help spark Aycock's turnaround.
"Hopefully the guys will buy in," said Moats. "We've talked about playing with more intensity and playing smarter with the ball. For the most part tonight we did do that. This is the highest scoring game we've had all year. Hopefully, they'll recognize that if we execute we score."
The Golden Falcons (2-11 overall, 1-4 ECC) travel to Eastern Wayne on Friday night.