Goldsboro executes late at Spring Creek

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on January 23, 2011 1:51 AM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek played a brilliant first half.

Goldsboro answered with a stellar second.

Four Cougars reached double-figures in the scoring collumn and Goldsboro made some key baskets in the final two minutes en route to a 64-55 victory on the Carolina 1-A Conference basketball scene on Friday night.

"I thought we came out a little ragged, but I was pleased with how we put things together on defense and got ourselves going in the second half," Goldsboro head coach Patrick Reynell said. "The guys talked about it on the court, we had to have a better defensive effort and they went out and made it happen."

Both teams opened the game with some hot shooting and poor transition defense. A driving basket by Devonte White gave the Cougars a 20-18 lead after one quarter. Spring Creek continued to shoot well in the second period and built a six-point advantage behind strong interior play by Kenneth Freeman and perimeter shooting by Gerald Ulmer.

With one minute to play in the second quarter Goldsboro stepped-up the defensive pressure and forced three turnovers which led to easy baskets. By the time the horn sounded for halftime the Cougars had cut the Spring Creek lead to one point.

Goldsboro wasted no time picking up where it left off once the second half began. The Cougars broke out for a 9-0 run to open the third quarter and built a lead that they would never relinquish.

"That run was really the key to the ballgame," Spring Creek head coach Taylor Jones said. "We gave up a couple baskets to end the second quarter and then a run to open the third. Nine points is big when you end up losing by exactly nine points."

White emerged the leading scorer for Goldsboro with 14 points. Robert Kornegay added 13 points, James Williams chipped-in 12 and Corteiz Sprangle scored 10 points in the win.

"I thought Corteiz Sprangle played his best game of the season tonight," Reynell said. "He didn't take a single bad shot and he was able to create some things with his shot fakes and his drives to the basket."

A trio of Gators led the way for the home team. Freeman, Ulmer and Deshar Thomas each finished with 15 points respectively in the defeat. Freeman added 11 rebounds.

Spring Creek (4-9, 1-1) travels to North Duplin on Tuesday night. The same evening Goldsboro (8-6, 1-1) plays host to Ayden-Grifton.