Rosewood overcomes early trouble

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on February 10, 2013 1:51 AM

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Rosewood struggled in the first half.

The Eagles turned their luck around after halftime.

Jyontae Raynor poured in 15 of his game-high 25 points in the second half and Rosewood ran away from Carolina 1-A Conference rival Spring Creek 64-32 on Friday night.

"I thought we were a little lazy on defense in the first half and we were reaching too much," Rosewood head coach Daniel Mitchell said. "In the second half we did a better job of staying in front of our men."

Rosewood (14-6 overall, 5-3 CC) opened the game on an 11-0 run, but watched as Spring Creek slowed the pace and began to get easy points in the paint. The Gators closed the gap to 27-20 at the intermission.

After Spring Creek opened the third quarter with a short jump shot from Daniel Krentz, the Gators offense went cold.

And Raynor took over.

Raynor collected a pass from Dee Mabry and threw down a thunderous dunk on the fast break. Raynor turned around, stole the inbounds pass and slammed down another two-handed jam.

A minute later, a perfect halfcourt set got Raynor free for a third dunk that ignited the crowd.

By the time Spring Creek (4-14, 1-7) scored another field goal, the damage was done in the form of a 14-0 Rosewood run.

"We turned the ball over three or four possessions in a row and that allowed (Rosewood) to get some easy baskets," Spring Creek head coach Taylor Jones said. "I thought our effort was there, but our execution was not."

Tre Hammonds led the Gators with 10 points. Jordan Hicks added seven points and six rebounds in the loss.

Mabry supplemented Raynor's big night with 10 points of his own.

Rosewood visits North Duplin on Tuesday night, while Spring Creek is the guest of Goldsboro the same evening.