Warriors take tough league loss on the chin

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on January 26, 2016 1:48 PM

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jhayes@newsargus.com

South Central guard Jae'tavion Edwards gets buckets.

Quickly.

He did just that Monday. Edwards scored five points in the final seven seconds of the first half at Eastern Wayne. He later rallied the Falcons to a 48-46 victory -- their sixth in six Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A tilts this season.

And for those in attendance, it was a blur.

With under 10 seconds remaining in the opening half -- and the Warriors nursing a tenuous three-point advantage -- guard KK Best was issued a technical foul for taunting. Edwards calmly made both free throws.

Then it got weird.

A seemingly endless loose ball sequence in front of the Eastern Wayne bench was solved by Edwards, who promptly pulled up and drained a 3-pointer as the first half buzzer sounded.

South Central led 19-17 at halftime.

"My guys gave me exactly what I asked them for," Warriors head coach Chris Roberts said, "a chance to win. We came with intensity the entire game... and just fell short."

But certainly not by much.

Freshman Marcus Rouse and Malyk Williams made five 3-pointers for the Warriors. Eastern Wayne led 36-35 after three quarters of play. Best finished with nine points.

However, Edwards, as Falcons head coach Chris Cherry remarked of his steely point guard, "made the plays a senior should make."

Edwards found fellow senior Majestic Jordan for a layup, making the score 45-39 with three minutes to play. He weaved through the Eastern Wayne pressure for another basket -- as well as a foul -- to increase the Falcon lead to four yet again.

The outcome, however, was far from academic. A baseline jumper by Matthew Ray-Sutton (11 points, three rebounds) trimmed the Warriors' deficit to a single basket.

Edwards was sent to the free throw line for two shots. He missed -- marking his only blemish of the night.

Best drove from the top of the key and found a drifting Rouse, who missed the game winner as the buzzer sounded.

"(We wanted a) straight line drive ... recover back to shooters ... didn't want to give up a three," Cherry said of the game's last play.

They didn't -- courtesy of Edwards -- and emerged victorious.