SB/MOPWC: Eastern Wayne boys take 3rd

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on January 1, 2016 1:48 PM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Eastern Wayne started with intensity, but struggled to finish off South Lenoir on Wednesday evening.

In fact, the Warriors almost ... almost ... let this one slip away.

Ethan Molloy and KK Best combined to drain four free throws in the final 22.8 seconds, and the Warriors turned back the Blue Devils, 69-66, in the third-place game of the Southern Bank/Mount Olive Pickle Winter Classic.

Molloy, who earned first-team all-tournament accolades, provided seven of his eight points in the second half. Best emerged as the Warriors' top offensive player with 13.

"We wanted to get a win," Molloy said. "I honestly don't think we did all that great. We missed a lot of free throws, we turned the ball over, but we definitely did better (than Tuesday)."

Eastern Wayne (2-7 overall) grabbed its biggest advantage, 37-30, on Eric Agee's jumper with 1:23 left in the second quarter. The Warriors walked into halftime with a 39-34 lead after Best knocked down a pair of free throws.

The Warriors continued to pressure and attack the basket in the third quarter, but couldn't build a working margin. The Blue Devils, of the Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference, stayed within striking distance due to EW's poor free throw shooting (21 of 43 overall) and turnovers.

"Every day at practice we shoot free throws 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after (practice), and they get here ... I don't know," said Eastern Wayne head coach Chris Roberts, whose team missed 12 first-half free throws.

"We're an athletic enough team that we're going to get to the basket. We've got to have those free throws so we can finish games.

Dajavian Outlaw's field goal pulled South Lenoir to within 53-51 barely a minute into the final period. The teams traded field goals until the Warriors went on a short offensive spurt.

Best buried a 3-pointer off of an assist from Molloy, Best assisted Matthew Ray-Sutton on a drive to the basket and Molloy converted an offensive putback. Eastern Wayne led 63-57 with 3:14 remaining in regulation.

Missed free throws allowed South Lenoir to make another run and take its first lead, 66-65, on Michael Pollard's offensive putback. Pollard missed the free throw, however.

After a timeout, Molloy drove to the basket, got fouled and put the Warriors back in front, 67-66, with 22.8 seconds to go.

"I had missed four throughout the game and I had to knock those down because they were the biggest ones of the game," Molloy said.

South Lenoir had two chances to win in the final 17 seconds, but missed both shot attempts. Best sealed the outcome with two free throws with 4.9 seconds remaining in the game.