Fike slips past Southern Wayne boys

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on November 28, 2012 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- Wilson Fike made its final shot in a back-and-forth game.

Southern Wayne's last attempt clanged off the rim.

When the smoke cleared, the Demons walked off with a 59-58, non-conference victory on Tuesday night.

"That was one of those games where we had opportunities and we didn't make the most of them," first-year Southern Wayne head coach Dwight Smith said. "You have to give Fike a lot of credit because down the stretch they hit some big shots including the last one."

Southern Wayne started the game cold from the field and fell behind by double digits in the first quarter. The Saints recovered in the second quarter behind some excellent full-court defense and pulled within 32-28 at halftime.

The Saints kept the pressure on in the third quarter and rallied behind seven points from Tarvis Bradshaw to take the lead 37-36 midway through the period. Southern Wayne built a six-point advantage at 54-48 with four minutes left in regulation.

That is when Fike got hot from the field for the second time.

Brandon Gray started the Demons' rally with an offensive putback and followed with a short jumper on the next possession. As Southern Wayne tried to run out the clock, Fike turned up the defensive intensity and forced a pair of turnovers.

"We were using up a lot of time with the lead, but at the end of those possessions we were not making shots," Smith said. "Ideally, when you run clock off like that you want it to lead to a wide-open shot and we never got those looks."

Southern Wayne held a 58-57 lead with 18 seconds to play and had the ball out of bounds, but an errant pass gave the ball back to Fike for the potential last shot. T.J. Harris collected himself, broke left off of a Gray screen and hit a floater in the lane to put the visitors ahead 59-58.

Southern Wayne took the ball out with six seconds to play, but its final shot hit the right side of the rim and bounced away.

"Obviously, it is still early in the year so I think we can learn from tonight," Smith said. "We have to improve at closing out quarters and ultimately closing out games."

Jaylen Roberts led Southern Wayne with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jamiel Price added 12 points.

Sam Ellis and Trevon Virgil each scored 13 points apiece for Wilson Fike. Gray added 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Southern Wayne (1-1 overall) travels to Lakewood on Thursday.