Goldsboro hands Princeton first loss
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 6, 2011 12:00 AM
Not in our house.
Goldsboro used a 15-0 third-quarter run to break open a tight ballgame and rolled past No. 1-ranked and previously unbeaten Carolina 1-A Conference foe Princeton 77-55 on Friday night.
The Cougars avoided a regular-season sweep at the hands of the Bulldogs and created a tie atop the conference standings.
Wes Wood's 3-pointer pulled Princeton to within 39-36 in the third quarter before Goldsboro reeled off 15 unanswered points to take a 54-36 lead. The Cougars forced six third-quarter turnovers which led to transition opportunities and easy baskets. The Bulldogs finished with 22 turnovers and the margin swelled to 54-39 entering the fourth quarter.
"We're not young but we're inexperienced so it's taken some of the younger guys to really buy into the concept of the team defense that we're trying to play," said Goldsboro head coach Patrick Reynell. "What we did tonight was we recovered well and we filled spaces perfectly in our backside. I was very pleased with the defensive effort."
Heralded Princeton senior Ben Jacobs picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter and was held to 15 points and eight rebounds before fouling out late in the ballgame. Jacobs entered the night averaging 27.9 points a contest.
"They took us out of our offense," said Bulldogs' head coach Jeff Davis. "They did a great job pressuring the ball. With Ben and C.J. (Jefferys) getting in foul trouble that's our worst nightmare come true. That's too much for us to overcome almost."
The Cougars (13-6, 6-1 CC) received quality minutes from big men James Williams and Demarian Henderson along with reserve Jarran Reed. Defensively, Goldsboro's forwards frequently double-teamed Jacobs in the post and were aggressive rebounding while attacking Princeton's post players offensively.
Reed finished with a season-high 12 points to go with six rebounds and a block. Henderson added 11 points and Williams had eight points and six rebounds.
"I think they did a good job fronting Ben," said Reynell. "In our style of defense we talked about you've got to make the post entry past difficult. Ben Jacobs with his back to the basket, you might as well give him the two points and start running to the other end. I thought they did a good job of making it difficult for him to catch the ball tonight. We figured if we could get one of their post players in foul trouble that was going to give us a better chance. We wanted to attack them at all times."
The first half was a back-and-forth tussle with Princeton (20-1, 7-1) twice building a five-point advantage. Henderson's layup late in the second quarter gave the Cougars a 34-32 lead at halftime.
Goldsboro guard Devonte White scored a game-high 21 points and Robert Kornegay contributed 12. Wes Wood scored 12 for the Bulldogs and Justin Foy had 11. Princeton got to the free throw line just 15 times while the Cougars attempted 30 free throws.
Goldsboro entertains Spring Creek on Tuesday while Princeton plays host to Spring Creek.