Spring Creek boys continue late-season surge
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 11, 2012 11:08 PM
CALYPSO -- Spring Creek is playing its best basketball at the right time.
The Gators executed their half-court offense effectively and placed four scorers in double figures in a 68-57 win Friday evening at North Duplin. It was the Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season finale for both teams.
Spring Creek (9-11 overall, 4-6 CC) drew the No. 5 seed and plays fourth-seeded Goldsboro (13-10, 5-5) in quarterfinal-round play of the conference tournament, which begins Tuesday evening at Rosewood. Tip-off is 6 p.m.
The sixth-seeded Rebels face Rosewood.
Neither team established much separation in the first half.
With Spring Creek center Adam Haggerty on the bench with three fouls, Rashawn Edwards scored 10 points in the first two quarters and the Gators held a slim 34-30 lead at halftime.
North Duplin's Tyler Royal scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the first half.
James Lofton's layup extended the margin to 38-30 early in the third quarter. Haggerty was whistled for his fourth foul fewer than three minutes into the second half. Wyatt Janning knocked down three of his five 3-pointers after halftime and Edwards controlled the boards with Haggerty on the bench.
Edwards finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Janning supplied 15 points and Trey Hammonds added 14 points and eight rebounds. Haggerty had 11 points.
"You never want to be in the situation where Adam is not in the game or any of our kids," Spring Creek head coach Taylor Jones said. "We had some kids really step up tonight. We really executed tonight. We're starting to finally figure out who we are and how we play."
Breyon Johnson's layup and James Kornegay's 3-pointer pulled the Rebels (4-15, 1-9) to within 46-42 entering the fourth quarter.
Lofton's free throws with 94 seconds to play capped a 12-4 run that stretched the Gators' lead to 58-46. Spring Creek sank 11 of 18 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Kornegay scored 14 points and Johnson had 10.
"I was proud of the guys for playing hard and competing," North Duplin head coach Ricky Edwards said. "We would have liked to have had a chance to win it there at the end."