Triton boys upend Eastern Wayne

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on February 9, 2011 1:47 PM

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Eastern Wayne played with the intensity that comes with senior night for the first quarter.

Triton matched the Warriors' effort in the final three periods and earned a 64-48 victory on the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference boys' basketball scene Tuesday night.

The Hawks dominated the paint throughout the contest. Tony McNeill scored a game-high 26 points, all in the lane, and grabbed 12 rebounds for the victors.

"Triton has a very good basketball team, which I knew coming into tonight," said Eastern Wayne head coach Marvin Bowman. "Their big men are very athletic and they know how to find each other around the goal."

Eastern Wayne played the Hawks even through the first period as both teams struggled to find any offensive continuity. Triton got four consecutive points from McNeill to open the second quarter and built a 20-13 lead on the strength of a 9-2 run.

The Warriors pulled within five points at the half on a long 3-pointer by Lamar Best at the buzzer and tied the game early in the fourth quarter on Lee Atkinson's 3-pointer. But the jubilation was short-lived as the Hawks got 11 consecutive points from McNeill and reopened a double-digit advantage early in the final period.

Ellis Hill finished as the only other Triton player in double figures with 12 points.

Byron Thompson paced the Warriors with 11 points. Best added 10 points and Atkinson finished with eight points.

"This game is all about hitting shots and getting stops," said Bowman. "In the fourth quarter we were not able to do that and Triton made the most of their chances."

The Hawks swept the regular-season series and dropped the Warriors to the No. 3 seed in next week's ECC tournament. Eastern Wayne concludes regular-season play Thursday at North Lenoir.