Havelock boys capitalize on E. Wayne turnovers

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on December 21, 2012 1:46 PM

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Eastern Wayne head boys' basketball coach Glen Darden only needed to see one stat to know why his team came up short Thursday night.

It wasn't the 32 points Havelock sharpshooter Zack Bruns poured in that ultimately did in the Warriors. They committed 26 costly turnovers and saw a furious third-quarter rally go by the wayside in a 91-80 loss.

"The thing that hurt us tonight was turnovers," Darden said. "At one particular time we were up and there was no need to try to force the ball. They have to play us now.

"We broke our momentum and got out of our transition game and when you have 26 turnovers you're not going to win."

Malik Richard paced the Warriors with 23 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Dayshawn Pridgen added 15 points and Quavis Holloman had 14.

Eastern Wayne used a 6-0 run to grab a 14-9 lead in the opening quarter and the Warriors led 16-13 after the first eight minutes.

Bruns knocked down four of his nine 3-pointers in the second quarter. The Rams closed the first half on a 12-1 run and led 43-33 at halftime.

"He's a player," Darden said of Bruns. "The kid can shoot the ball and we didn't match up well with him. He's a shooter and we didn't play defense on that shooter. He's also a scorer and when you have that combination it is hard to beat it."

Havelock's lead swelled to 60-47 in the third quarter, but Eastern Wayne reeled off 12 consecutive points to take a 66-64 lead.

"We moved the ball at the end of the third quarter," Darden said. "We did all the right things we practiced."

The Rams reclaimed the momentum early in the fourth quarter and built an 84-73 lead with just three minutes to play. Havelock held a decisive advantage in free throws attempted 34, to just 19 for the Warriors.

Jeremy Davis scored 12 points for Eastern Wayne and Tavorise Hall had nine points and eight rebounds.

The Warriors travel to Southern Wayne on Jan. 2.