Cardinals fly by Warrior boys

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on March 3, 2015 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

The final 11/2 minutes summed up the night.

Eastern Wayne had the ball and an open lane on a fast break. A pass was bobbled and trickled out of bounds. Then the Warriors stole the inbounds pass, but a 3-pointer clanged off the side of the backboard.

Try as they might, after a double-overtime marathon just 24 hours before against Cedar Ridge, the Warriors didn't have anything left in the tank. Jacksonville rolled to a 70-43 win in second-round play of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A boys' basketball playoffs.

It wasn't for lack of effort or heart, though.

And that's something Eastern Wayne coach Chris Roberts can hang his hat on. With his team down 25 points in the fourth, Roberts was as lively as ever, and so were his players. Point guard KK Best dove on the floor for loose balls in traffic twice. Ethan Molloy showed defensive energy and forced two turnovers.

All that effort and desire came long after the game had been decided.

"That's just the kind of player KK is as well as some of these other guys," Roberts said. "A long time ago a coach told me that players take on the characteristics of their coach. And these guys do that. So I wasn't going to stop coaching and they weren't going to stop playing."

Early it looked as if Blake Poland and the Warriors would shoot the Cardinals right out of the gym. Poland scored 12 of the Warriors' 20 points in the first quarter in an offense that capitalized on open looks.

Then Eastern Wayne went as cold as a winter in Alaska and would scored just 23 points and make four shots from the field the rest of the game. Poland never found the scoring column again.

The length and athleticism in the Cardinals' 1-3-1 zone left very few holes for the Warriors to get looks from, and when they did, they usually missed the shot and couldn't grab the rebound.

"They were us times two," Roberts said. "They were so long. Taller than us at every position. They're a great team."

An up-tempo pace bordered on frenetic and caused the Warriors to play a little too fast, which resulted in 19 turnovers going to the Cardinals. Jeffrey Jordan has six steals for Jacksonville.

Micah Smith and Malik Richard capped off their careers by combining for 22 points for the Warriors.

Bobby Grubbs led the way for the Cardinals dropping in 22 points and he and Billy Bodette were the players to make big plays when the Cardinals needed them early. Bodette finished with 13 points despite hardly playing in the second half. Jordan had 14 points and Tavion Cooley dropped in 13.

The Warriors finished the year 9-16.

"I'm so proud of these guys because we weren't supposed to be here," Roberts said. "I'm so thankful for the players and the administration to allow me to be the coach here."