Kinston defense shuts down Goldsboro's outside shooting

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on February 4, 2015 1:48 PM

• Print
• Email

aetzler@newsargus.com

KINSTON -- When Goldsboro and Kinston squared off two weeks ago, Cougars guard Myron Carmon knocked down big shot after big shot, hit deep 3-pointers and got into the lane to finish at the rim.

Goldsboro couldn't even get him the ball in crunch time on Tuesday.

Kinston's Anthony Berry, who missed the game at Goldsboro because of an injury, stepped up in the fourth quarter and never held Carmon scoreless in the final four minutes of the game -- a 73-57 victory by the Vikings.

"Coach told me 'no touches,'" Berry said. "It means make sure he doesn't get to touch the ball."

That's exactly what Berry did.

"I thought 'Ant' Berry did a tremendous job," Kinston coach Perry Tyndall said. "We knew Myron was able to hurt us in the first game and we wanted to make sure that we made it tough on him and deny him the ball."

Rasheen Artis led Goldsboro with 22 points, while Carmon scored 14. Each had to work for every point they scored against a suffocating Kinston perimeter defense in either a 1-3-1 or man-to-man scheme.

Joe Baker, who scored a career-high 30 points in the first meet, was held to just two points.

Kinston star Brandon Ingram led the way with 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Jaquan Artis scored 14 points and had eight rebounds. Darnell Dunn was the only other Vikings player in double figures with 10 points.

Tyndall told his team before the game that they needed to make a more concerted effort to hit the glass and keep Goldsboro from getting second-chance points. The Vikings responded with one of their best rebounding performances all year, with a 36-19 edge on the boards.

Kinston held Goldsboro to just four points for the rest of the game after Carmon knocked down a three to start the fourth quarter.

After that, the Cougars never found a flow offensively and failed to take care of the ball.

"I thought we played our hearts out," Goldsboro coach Russell Stephens said. "We just weren't able to get enough scores in the fourth quarter this time."