BOYS -- Kornegay's FTs sink county rival

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 17, 2015 11:24 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- Cam Kornegay's first free throw hit the front iron, gave a kind bounce and dropped through the net.

The few Falcon Frenzies cheered loudly.

Kornegay took another deep breath, focused on the goal and easily swished the second charity shot. Again, the Frenzies went crazy.

But Eastern Wayne had one more chance.

With 7.0 seconds to go, Warrior point guard KK Best found an open lane to the basket and his short jumper hit the front rim. Malik Richard grabbed the offensive rebound and a Charles B. Aycock defender swatted it out of bounds.

Game over.

The Golden Falcons halted a six-game skid with a come-from-behind, 52-51 victory Friday evening. Kornegay dropped in 10 of his 14 points in the second half and helped Aycock climb out of the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference cellar.

"We've fallen behind a lot this year and we always come back, but it's just little bit (of lapse)," Kornegay said. "We talked about it right before the fourth quarter and our main thing is we had to finish tonight. We knew if we could get it back to a two-point range, we could finish."

Down 46-40 early in the fourth, Aycock (2-15 overall, 1-5 ECC) went on an 8-0 run, capped by Bryce Jordan's layup in traffic. The teams traded ties until Ian Best's offensive putback gave the Golden Falcons a 54-53 with under a minute to go.

The Warriors (3-11, 0-5) regained the lead on Blake Poland's running shot in the lane with 20.2 seconds to go. Aycock committed an offensive foul less than six seconds later, and Eastern Wayne obliged with a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass.

Kornegay grabbed the loose ball and got fouled.

"I was really nervous. I'm not going to lie," said Kornegay, who hit the two FTs with 11.1 seconds remaining in regulation.

"In practice, if we miss the free throw, we'll run. All I could think about is I don't want to run. I had to make them and it worked out for me. After the first dropped in, I felt pretty confident about the second one."

The difference, Aycock head coach David Elmore said, was that his team took care of the little details. The Golden Falcons converted 10 second-chance points in the fourth quarter and 14 total in the second half.

Eastern Wayne scored just four second-chance points in the final 16 minutes.

"They kept their composure, stayed patient and took what they gave us," said Elmore, whose team held a commanding 21-11 second-half edge on the glass.

"(Rebounds) was huge and we made it an emphasis all week leading into the game tonight. We had to box out and get a lot of rebounds because they're more athletic than we are and our guys know that. My guys took that as a challenge and did a heckuva job of it."

Malik Richard (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Zeke Martin (10 points, 10 rebounds) led the Warriors' attack. Micah Smith notched 12 points, while Poland contributed nine.

The Warriors owned a 24-22 edge in made field goals.

"I told them at halftime that with them (Aycock) being 1-15, they have nothing to lose and that's why they're going to come out in the second half and go (hard)," EW head coach Chris Roberts said.