Thomas controls boards, Cougars defeat Warriors

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on December 11, 2014 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

Jaylin Thomas knew he still had more to prove.

He transferred from Eastern Wayne to Goldsboro at the beginning of the school year, and received blowback from his peers about the decision.

"There was just a lot of negative energy coming from over there because I left, so I wanted to prove myself." said Thomas, who had 16 points and seven rebounds in the teams' first meeting last week.

Thomas needed to show that effort wasn't a fluke.

And this time, Eastern Wayne brought the cavalry that included five football players who made their debut Wednesday. But Thomas and his Cougar teammates spoiled the Warriors' first game as a full team with a 70-60 victory at Norvell T. Lee Gymnasium.

Thomas scored eight points and grabbed 16 rebounds despite being smaller than Eastern Wayne's frontcourt duo of Zeke Martin and Malik Richard.

"I think this game meant a little extra to Mr. Thomas," Goldsboro coach Russell Stephens said. "Rebounding was just effort and getting after and I thought they did a great job of that and we pretty much owned the boards tonight."

Stephens said his team hadn't played a game like this one yet, especially before a standing-room-only crowd.

When Eastern Wayne's football players -- Richard, Deshawn Boudy, Dameko Artis, Micah Smith and KK Best -- all came off the bench at the same time with the Warriors down by eight, their fans erupted with cheers.

Minutes later, Richard got them off their feet again when he drove baseline and threw down a two-handed jam in traffic. But each time the Warriors gained some momentum, Goldsboro's backcourt of Myron Carmon and Rasheen Artis would figure out a way to stop it.

They easily blew past defenders and finished shots in the lane.

"That's just what we do," said Carmon, who scored 16 points. "We weren't worried about them, we weren't going to play their game. We play our game."

Artis finished with a game-high 21 points.

Richard led the Warriors with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Eastern Wayne cut the deficit to three points in the fourth, but a turnover led to a bucket for Thomas and essentially sealed the game for the Cougars.

Goldsboro, which averaged 81 points a game, was held to its lowest offensive output of the year. It was the first time the Cougars had played in Lee Gymnasium after having the goals repaired.

"We'll get used to that and the scoring will come," Stephens said. "We got scorers, we're not worried about that."