Golden Falcons miss FTs, fall to Cougars

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on December 3, 2014 1:48 PM

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cellis@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- While it's sometimes referred to as the "charity stripe," the free throw line was anything but generous to the Charles B. Aycock boys' varsity basketball team Tuesday evening.

Poor free throw shooting and sloppy ball handling down the stretch doomed the Golden Falcons, as they lost to county rival Goldsboro High 51-44. Aycock dropped to 0-7 overall this season, while the Cougars improved to 3-0.

The game was a back-and-forth affair, as the two teams stayed within 10 points of each other throughout.

In the first quarter, Goldsboro jumped out to an early lead despite having to sit one of their best players -- senior guard Rasheen Artis -- because of early foul trouble. With Artis on the bench, the Cougars were forced to rely on other players to provide an offensive spark.

It was an effort that got much praise from Coach Russell Stephens.

"We've got good guys on the bench," Russell said. "D'Onte Russell came in and gave us good minutes, we have Eric Bufkin back now and he gave us some good minutes. I told the whole bench that they had to step up and be ready to play, and in situations like this -- they beat us in this gym last year -- those guys stepped up tonight and we were able to get the win."

While they played from behind most of the game, the Golden Falcons able to stay close due to the play of their front court.

Junior Cameron Kornegay and Senior Jarde Spruill both dominated down low, grabbing key boards and giving the Falcons plenty of second chance opportunities. Kornegay finished the game with a team-high 16 points.

Aycock coach Dave Elmore singled both the players out when asked about whom he was impressed with.

"[Kornegay] has a great game every night," Elmore said. "It may not show in his stat line, but his leadership is the biggest thing that he has brought to this team. If you look at our team, we don't have a very big team.

"Cam and [Spruill] are both very undersized post players, but what they do is they play smart and they battle. They're leaders out there."

Ultimately though, it wasn't enough.

The poor free throw shooting -- especially in the 2nd half -- cost the Falcons what could have been their first win of the season. The team went 2 of 13 from the line, a performance that Elmore called "abysmal."

Luckily, however, the Golden Falcons don't have much time to dwell on their performance since they visit Southern Nash today. Goldsboro visits Eastern Wayne on Thursday.