Rosewood drops game at Ayden-Grifton

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 2, 2013 11:13 PM

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AYDEN -- Rosewood made uncharacteristic mistakes down the stretch and started second-half conference play in disappointing fashion Friday evening.

The Eagles committed 19 second-half turnovers and endured a 60-52 loss to Ayden-Grifton in a pivotal Carolina 1-A Conference boys' basketball game inside Bob Murphrey Gymnasium.

Jyonte Raynor pumped in a game-high 25 points for Rosewood, which dropped to 4-2 against league opposition this season. Teammate Dennis Mitchell supplied 10 points and five rebounds, while the backcourt tandem of Josh Davis and Dee Mabry combined for 14 points.

Khalif Harper drained his first five shots from the floor in a 16-point effort for Ayden-Grifton, which picked up its second consecutive league win during a four-day stretch this week. Starters Brandon Larry and Rondell Bell chipped in 15 and 12 points, respectively.

The Chargers avenged a league-opening loss to the Eagles, but seemed destined to surrender the regular-season series through 2 1/2 quarters of play. Rosewood led 36-30 before Ayden-Grifton increased its intensity on defense, crashed the offensive glass and reeled off a 10-2 run.

Davis' backdoor layup off Mabry's assist knotted the game at 42-all early in the final period. The Chargers tallied seven of the next nine points before Raynor buried a 3-pointer to pull the Eagles to within 49-48.

"I thought Jy played a good game and the guys did a good job of getting the ball where it needed to be," Eagles head coach Daniel Mitchell. "He did a good job of putting the ball in the basket."

Rosewood turned the ball over on three of its next four possessions, which allowed Ayden-Grifton to rebuild its advantage. Raynor converted his final field with 1:30 left in regulation.

Dennis Mitchell's offensive putback made it 56-52 with 37.4 seconds to go. However, the Chargers converted key free throws and the Eagles coughed the ball up two more times during the final half minute.

"We kind of hit the panic button a little bit, didn't handle the pressure a little bit, didn't make the decisions that we needed to with the ball and turned it over too many times," Mitchell said.

"We've usually taken really good care of the ball. On the road, it's the first time maybe we've been in that situation, but we just weren't smart with the ball in the fourth quarter. They really picked up the intensity and got after it, were quick to the ball."

Rosewood committed 27 total turnovers.