Goldsboro boys clinch league title outright

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 13, 2013 1:47 PM

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Goldsboro can check the Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season championship off its list of goals.

More importantly, the Cougars are peaking at the right time.

Goldsboro clinched the league title outright and celebrated senior night with a 73-30 victory over Spring Creek on Tuesday night inside Norvell T. Lee Gymnasium. The Cougars extended their winning streak to 11 games.

"That was one of our goals was to come in and win the conference championship," Goldsboro head coach Russell Stephens said. "Not only that, but we wanted to make sure we were getting better. We're hitting shots at an incredible rate and we're making sure the ball is going toward the basket first and I think that has been a big key to it."

The Cougars' backcourt continued to show their improvement as freshman point guard Myron Carmon finished with a game-high 16 points. Sophomore guard Rasheen Artis added 13 points.

"I think our guards are realizing they don't have to score every time they have the basketball," Stephens said. "They don't have to make the big play, they just have to make the correct play. I think that's what they're doing now and understanding where the ball has to go."

Goldsboro's senior big man Damarian Henderson contributed 12 points. Fellow seniors Jalin Sprueil, Jamal George and Julius Murphy combined for 12 points.

Jordan Hicks paced the Gators with eight points and Tre Hammonds had seven.

The Cougars led 33-17 at the half and used their full-court press to dictate the tempo during a decisive 23-2 third-quarter run.

"I thought our kids really played hard," Spring Creek head coach Taylor Jones said. "Goldsboro speeds you up and as a result you've got two sophomores handling the ball and when they get sped up we're not so good. When they stay under control we're pretty good sometimes.

"We've got to be stubborn enough to stay with what we do."

Goldsboro (16-6 overall, 9-0 CC) concludes its regular season Friday night at Ayden-Grifton, while the Gators (14-5, 1-8) play host to North Duplin.