Pickle Winter Classic -- Cougars hold off E. Wayne boys in semifinals

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 28, 2013 11:34 PM

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Goldsboro High 81,

Eastern Wayne 74

* MOUNT OLIVE -- Eastern Wayne almost pulled off a miraculous comeback, but Goldsboro squeaked out an 81-74 victory in the inaugural Southern Bank-Mount Olive Pickle Classic contested at Kornegay Arena on Friday evening.

The county rivals survived a tightly-officiated game that resulted in 50 total fouls and constant stoppages in play. Three players fouled out and the teams combined to shoot 76 free throws.

Eastern Wayne (2-4 overall) seized a nine-point lead just minutes into the contest. Goldsboro (7-3) responded with a monstrous 20-4 run that began midway through the first quarter and carried over into halftime.

The Cougars led 40-31 at the break.

"I thought we attacked the basket, we missed some (shots) early on, were a little tight," second-year GHS head coach Russell Stephens said. "We wanted to use our ball penetration to get to the basket and once we were able to do that, we got into a rhythm."

Joseph Baker's dunk off of Myron Carmon's assist gave Goldsboro its biggest lead, 52-34, in the third quarter. Baker was assessed a technical foul on the play, but Eastern Wayne couldn't capitalize and trailed 60-44 after three periods.

The Warriors ripped off a 12-0 run, capped by Malik Richard's offensive putback and Micah Smith's free throw to start the fourth quarter. Eastern Wayne trailed 60-56 around the five-minute mark.

"We talked about them being aggressive, especially with Ya-Ya (Rasheen Artis) getting the calls (from the officials), so I told them that we can't shoot jumpers and we have to attack the basket," interim EW coach Chris Roberts said.

"We amped up our defense, pressed a little bit more and the guys started playing."

Tyrique Tyson's offensive putback halted the surge. The teams traded transition baskets and free throws the rest of the game.

Artis poured in a career-high 30 points that included a career-best 20 of 24 free performance at the free throw line. Jayln Moore contributed 16 points, while Tyson supplied a double-double -- 10 points, 13 rebounds.

Tyson and Moore combined to shoot 8 of 11 at the charity stripe.

Jalyn Thomas led the Warriors with 18 points. Richard added 15. Smith and Zongio Troy scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.