Goldsboro survives shaky third quarter, beats A-G

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 30, 2013 1:47 PM

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Goldsboro survived what could have been a disastrous third quarter and stayed unbeaten on the Carolina 1-A Conference boys' basketball scene Tuesday evening.

Senior Damarian Henderson spearheaded a balanced offensive attack with 14 points in a 69-56 conquest of Ayden-Grifton inside Norvell T. Lee Gymnasium. Rasheen Artis chipped in 13 points, while Myron Carmon and junior Lonzia Tyson knocked down 10 points apiece.

The Cougars (11-6 overall) climbed to 4-0 against league opposition heading into today's road battle at county foe Spring Creek.

Goldsboro worked its inside-out game well in the opening half. Henderson and Tyson controlled the middle and helped the Cougars claim a 40-25 advantage at the break.

The third period was a different tale.

Ayden-Grifton opened the quarter with an 8-2 run behind two 3-pointers from Phe'Bion Joyner and an uncontested open-court layup by Rondell Bell. The double-digit cushion was squished to 42-33 around the six-minute mark.

"We let up and that happened in the Rosewood game the other night," Goldsboro head coach Russell Stephens said. "We know where we wanted to go with the basketball and they hit some shots. Our last five games we have won by 28 points and we haven't been in a tight situation.

"Then it got a little tighter and our fundamentals came into play. Teams were not quick enough to take the pass away (inside), but they (Ayden-Grifton) got their hands on it where we weren't crisp with our passes."

The Cougars also struggled from the floor, shooting 1 for 10 during a six-minute stretch. The Chargers shaved the deficit to seven points on two occasions, but Artis and Jaylen Moore each hit a bucket, which stretched the margin to 49-38 after three periods.

The Cougars pushed their advantage to 54-40 early in the final period.

"I was proud of the way our guys fought through and credit Rasheed for handling the ball well," Stephens said. "We had some bonehead plays where I thought we could have pulled the ball out, but that's what happens when you get complacent and that's what happened in the second half."

Geremi Dixon's old-fashioned three-point play pulled the Chargers to within 62-52 with 2:26 remaining in the game. Neither team scored again until Julius Murphy's offensive putback off a missed free throw sealed the outcome with 46 seconds on the clock.

Murphy finished with five points, six rebounds, four assists and one steal. Tyson blocked seven shots and pulled down seven boards. Artis dished out three assists, picked the Chargers for three steals and collected four rebounds.