Mitchell: Rosewood's effort should have been better

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 29, 2013 1:47 PM

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A win is a win.

Or so it would seem.

Rosewood head coach Daniel Mitchell felt that his team suffered losses in some aspects during its 78-61 triumph over Carolina 1-A Conference boys' basketball foe North Duplin on Monday evening.

Despite seeing a box-and-one on occasion, Dee Mabry pumped in a game-high 23 points for the Eagles, who rose to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in the league heading into today's road challenge at archrival Princeton.

Jyonte Raynor tallied 12 points and Zack Barnes chipped in 10.

Daron Goodman paced North Duplin's offense with 12 points -- all in the first half. Senior guard Tyler Royal knocked down 11 points. Cody Ivey contributed 11 points, six rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists.

Stretched out in a chair and his head resting in his right hand, Mitchell looked completely drained after the physical 32-minute contest. The Eagles struggled with character issues on the court, didn't move well defensively, failed to keep the Rebels off the offensive glass and committed careless fouls.

"I thought it was a physical, highly-contested game and both teams played hard," Mitchell said. "I didn't think we defended particularly well, gave up a lot of easy baskets and put them on the free throw line quite a bit. We have to do better on the defensive end as a team.

"We didn't rebound the ball well, either."

Each team snared 36 rebounds, but Mitchell's disappointment came from his squad's inability to rotate defensively and take away the weak side. North Duplin (1-16 overall, 0-4 CC) kept several possessions alive which resulted in either an offensive putback or a trip to the free throw line.

The Rebels shot 17 of 22 at the charity stripe.

Rosewood converted 27 field goals, 19 free throws and picked North Duplin for 13 steals. Mitchell was pleased with the number of offensive chances, but also said the Eagles struggled to finish on the offensive end after the opening quarter.

Mabry and Raynor combined for three 3-pointers during the first eight minutes, which helped Rosewood build a 23-16 advantage. The Eagles stretched the lead to double digits in the second quarter, only to see North Duplin climb within nine points on three occasions.

The Eagles led 38-24 at the break.

"I thought we played hard and Rosewood battled," North Duplin head coach Ricky Edwards said. "Yeah, it was physical. They knocked down some shots early and I thought we missed some shots. They got some shots off their defense that helped, too."

Rosewood (12-3, 3-1) pulled away during the second half as play became chippy on both ends of the court. The teams combined for 49 total fouls, a double-technical and three players fouled out.