Goldsboro races out to early lead, routs Southern Wayne

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 5, 2015 11:37 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- Already aware of Goldsboro's potent, fast-paced attack, Southern Wayne wanted to dictate the tempo Friday evening.

The Cougars, as usual, went for the jugular.

Behind point guard Myron Carmon and Nakia Atkins, Goldsboro reeled off 15 of the game's first 17 points and easily earned their second regular-season sweep of a county opponent, 103-77.

The late Norvell Lee would have said his previous Goldsboro teams "busted the clock" since most scoreboards didn't go past 99 about two decades ago. The Saints just couldn't stop the Cougars from filling up the basket -- either from behind the arc or in transition.

Goldsboro converted 37 field goals and scored 20 points from the free throw line.

"We got off to a good start ... game was very similar to the one at home, we got on the free throw line and we just started scoring," said GHS head coach Russell Stephens, whose team reached the 100-point mark against the Saints for the second time this season.

"Our pressure hit them early, and to their credit, they kept fighting in the game. We made some substitutions and told them that Southern Wayne is not going to go away, they're going to give you a battle."

The Saints trailed by 22 points after one quarter, but closed the gap to eight points on two occasions before halftime. Fueled by some Goldsboro turnovers, Southern Wayne (0-6 overall) found its transition game and got offensive contributions from seven different players.

The Cougars (6-0 overall) led by 19 after three quarters and grabbed their biggest lead, 92-65, with 4 1/2 minutes left in regulation. The Saints never recovered as Stephens emptied his bench.

"We played with them (at times), but then we relaxed a little and then they took off on that run," SW head coach Dwight Smith said. "A good team like that, you can't relax. You've got to stay on your toes all the time. (We're) young and they have to understand that when it (the game) is manageable, we have to execute.

"This is my JV team that came up with no experience on varsity and they're trying to learn on the run."

Kisheem Faison and Myron Carmon paced the Cougars' offense with 23 and 22 points, respectively. The backcourt duo combined to drain eight of the team's nine 3-pointers.

Nakia Atkins and Jyrek Robinson contributed 17 and 10 points, respectively.

Quentin Carlton paced the Saints with 12 points, followed by Emmanuel Walker with 10. James Leonard and Rakilen Butler each scored nine points.