Southern Wayne comes back, grinds out ECC boys' win

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on January 30, 2013 1:47 PM

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In a game that was ugly from the opening tip, Southern Wayne did enough to win.

The Saints finished the game on a 9-2 run and outlasted Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference archrival Eastern Wayne 68-60 on Tuesday night.

The teams combined for 60 personal fouls and attempted a staggering 75 free throws in the game.

"It certainly was not a pretty basketball game," Southern Wayne head coach Dwight Smith said. "But at the end of the night you would rather be on the winning end of a bad game than the alternative."

The two squads went without a field goal during the first three minutes of the game and combined to shoot a putrid 3-for-23 in the first six minutes overall.

Southern Wayne led 17-13 after one period on the strength of timely shooting from the charity stripe.

The Saints increased their lead to 35-27 at the intermission as both coaches tried to juggle their lineups to avoid foul trouble.

"That is one thing that you can not game plan for," Eastern Wayne head coach Glen Darden said. "You can plan for the other team, but you can not anticipate how the game is going to be called."

The foul fest continued in the second half as the Warriors made a comeback. The Saints cut the deficit to four points after the third quarter and drew even closer at 59-58 with four minutes to play.

Southern Wayne (10-6 overall, 4-3 ECC) settled down and finished strong as Ronnell Outlaw hit consecutive baskets to put the Saints ahead by six points. Outlaw and Tarvis Bradshaw led a paraded at the free throw line to close out the contest.

Outlaw led the Saints with 16 points. Bradshaw added 13 and Angelo Burden scored 12.

"Angelo was huge for us tonight off the bench," Smith said. "He made some shots, played good defense and he hustled like crazy."

Southern Wayne's victory overshadowed a brilliant performance by Eastern Wayne forward Micah Smith, who finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

"Micah is one kid that I know is going to give 110 percent every single night," Darden said. "I feel like we are still getting better as a team, thanks to my assistant coaches, and we have a chance to play our best at the end of the year."

Eastern Wayne (6-14, 2-6) travels to C.B. Aycock on Friday, while Southern Wayne plays host to Cleveland tonight.