Spring Creek takes down reeling Cougars

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 8, 2012 1:48 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek's seniors put another feather in their cap.

Goldsboro's head-scratching slump continued.

Senior Drelan Trent scored the go-ahead layup with 37 seconds left and the Gators rallied for a 45-42 win in "The Swamp" on Tuesday night.

Damarian Henderson's 3-pointer extended the Cougars' lead to 42-37 midway through the fourth quarter. Goldsboro wouldn't score again.

Tre Hammonds sank a pair of free throws and Rashawn Edwards' three-point play with two minutes left tied the game at 42-42.

The Cougars' Quavus Holloman missed the front end of two critical one-and-one opportunities at the free throw line in the final two minutes. Goldsboro went just 4 for 12 at the free throw line, including 2 for 6 in the second half.

"When you don't hit free throws and you're talking about a single-digit ballgame that really, really hurts" Cougars' head coach Patrick Reynell said. "Huge credit to Spring Creek for making key plays."

Trent's layup gave Spring Creek (8-11 overall, 3-6 CC) the lead for good and Edwards grabbed a key rebound off Adam Haggerty's missed free throw. Edwards sank one of two free throws with 10 seconds remaining.

Jalin Sprueil's 3-pointer hit the front of the rim in the closing seconds.

Edwards scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the second half and he also pulled down 13 rebounds. Haggerty and Trent both added nine points.

"Rashawn, we asked him to step up, and man did he ever," Gators' head coach Taylor Jones said. "The last two weeks I've finally started to feel like we've played some really good basketball."

It was a fitting senior night victory for Spring Creek's seven seniors, who also earned two wins over rival Princeton and knocked off Eastern Wayne this season.

"Adam obviously holds a special place in my heart," an emotional Jones said. "He kept fighting and battling and got some big boards for us late in the game. This is the best group of kids I've ever had. They fight hard, they listen and I think we have really great leadership.

"I told our seniors in the locker room, your senior year you beat Eastern Wayne, you beat Goldsboro, you can't ask for much more than that."

Octavius Alston led the Cougars with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Goldsboro (13-9, 5-4) has lost three consecutive games for the first time since joining the conference. The Cougars conclude regular-season play at home Friday against Ayden-Grifton, while the Gators travel to North Duplin.