Goldsboro boys snap Kinston's 25-game home win streak in conference play

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on January 16, 2016 11:13 PM

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bdavis@newsargus.com

KINSTON -- A combined 45 turnovers by Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference rivals Goldsboro and Kinston almost -- almost -- overshadowed the end of a remarkable streak Friday evening.

The Cougars won 73-64 and ended the Vikings' streak of 25 consecutive home conference wins, which started after a loss to Farmville Central in 2010.

"When you got two teams that are good athletic teams that love to get up and down, you can live with a couple of turnovers," Goldsboro head coach Russell Stephens said. "We're probably not going to get a team that presses like this (Kinston) all year. Finally, in the third quarter, we were able to handle that pressure a little bit, get the ball at the basket.

"I thought we got it there to Tyzhaun Claude in that second quarter. He made a lot of easy ones. We got on a roll there defensively, stopping them and taking away their transition baskets. We rebounded the ball very well, I thought, in that third quarter, and we were able to hold on for the win."

Leading 37-28, the Cougars started the third quarter with Nakia Atkins' three-point play -- a layup and free throw -- off of an assist from Myron Carmon.

Vikings senior Jaquan Artis stole the ball from the Cougars, threw it to senior Anthony Berry Jr. and Berry drove the court for a layup.

Carmon passed the ball to senior Jyrek Robinson for a field goal and assisted Eric Bufkin with a layup. Goldsboro led 58-44 after three quarters.

Senior Dominic Williams stole the ball from the Cougars and assisted Artis on a field goal. Senior Jeremiah Fields assisted Artis with a layup, and the Vikings trailed Goldsboro, 60-50, with five minutes remaining in regulation.

Senior Jaylin Thomas threw the ball to Carmon for a 3-pointer. Junior Ronnie Tookes snatched the ball from the Vikings and drew a foul. He swished both free throws to end the game.

Claude recorded 12 points for the Cougars, who stayed unbeaten in 14 games this season. Carmon added 11 points and senior Kisheem Faison scored 10 points.

Berry and Artis scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, for Kinston.

Berry ended the game with 18 points, and Artis added 16 points for the Vikings (8-3 overall, 1-1 conference).

Stephens' team learned from its close road win at North Lenoir last Friday.

"(We) knew coming into this game, this is our third year playing in this conference (and) our first win here," Stephens said. "We didn't know if we would get another shot in this gym, so we wanted to make sure we gave them (Vikings) our best game."