Trapping scheme coerces Aycock into costly mistakes

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 21, 2011 1:48 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Once the Goldsboro defense forced turnovers and re-directed the tempo in its favor, it quickly rang up points on the scoreboard Tuesday evening.

Two back-to-back miscues within a 30-second span ignited a third-quarter uprising, and the Cougars turned back pesky county rival Charles B. Aycock, 57-42.

Goldsboro swept the regular-season series and evened its overall worksheet at 5-5 heading into Thursday's home game against Eastern Wayne.

This meeting certainly didn't resemble the previous outcome.

Neither team couldn't consistently knock down shots or free throws, and hard-nosed defense led to ragged play. The teams combined to convert just one field goal in the final period, and a paltry 24 of 49 free throws for the game.

The coaches described the game as "brutal" and "ugly."

"Unfortunately, sometimes kids look at a previous game or a team's record and think that defines them," said Goldsboro head coach Patrick Reynell. "Talent can come through any night, and it has and will for C.B. Aycock as they grow. I think we took their ability for granted based on the last game and somehow thought tonight would have been 'easy'."

The Cougars (5-5 overall) grabbed a 15-8 advantage after one quarter, but soon surrendered the lead. The Golden Falcons executed their press-breaking offense well and Michael Williams poured in 11 of his team-high 15 points during that stretch.

Aycock led 31-26 at the break.

"In the second quarter, we played very well as a team and we were making good cuts and had good passing, which led to a lot of layups and got us back in the game," said second-year Golden Falcons head coach Steve Moats.

Goldsboro employed a 1-3-1 trapping defense in the second half that forced Aycock to play at a faster tempo. The turnovers came in droves as Quavus Holloman and Moses Ramsey sparked the offensive surge with back-to-back layups off steals from Jalen Sprueil.

Holloman's steal and layup, Rashad Jackson's jumper and Damarion Henderson's old-fashioned three-point play gave the Cougars a working margin at 44-34.

Reynell's team led 50-38 after three periods.

"I think our biggest problem was energy (and) intensity," said Reynell. "We thrive off of our defense and we didn't sprint to spots (in the first half). I thought Moses came out in the second half and really provided us that spark, and his energy was contagious."

The teams lost their respective steam in the fourth quarter.

Henderson's two free throws with 4:27 left were the first points scored by either team. Julius Murphy's tip-in off a missed layup was the lone field goal converted by either team.

"We just couldn't score," said Moats, whose team scored nine of 11 second-half points from the free throw line.