Goldsboro boys clinch share of ECC 2A title

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on February 17, 2016 1:48 PM

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bdavis@newsargus.com

Goldsboro senior Myron Carmon found his team tied at 50-all against Greene Central before the final period started on senior night.

Carmon stopped at the top of the key and fired a 3-pointer. On the next possession, Carmon posted up at the same position and fired another 3. The long-distance shots helped the Cougars defeat the Rams, 72-66, and claim a share of the Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference regular-season championship.

The two teams meet again today in the ECC semifinals. Game time is 7:30 p.m. on the Cougars' home court.

"We didn't want to just come out and hand it to them (Rams)," Carmon said. "It was a good game and a good crowd, so we just kept up with the tempo."

Goldsboro trailed Greene Central, 32-30, at halftime, but ended the third quarter up by one point over the Rams.

That's when Carmon held the ball.

The Cougars led 60-54 in the fourth quarter, but Greene Central freshman Donte Johnson assisted senior Montel Speight with a 3-pointer. The Rams pressed Goldsboro's defense to tie the game.

Carmon reached out and stole the ball from an opponent's hands. The steal led to a layup by junior Ronnie Tookes. Senior Eric Bufkin stole the ball and threw the ball to senior Kisheem Faison, who drove to the basket.

The Cougars ran away from the Rams to end the game.

Carmon ended the game with 18 points. Tookes collected 14 points, and senior Jaylin Thomas added 12 points. Faison scored 11 points.

"I told my guys at halftime, 'this is going to be a grind-out game'." Goldsboro head coach Stephen Russell said. "Both teams played pretty solid on defense, not really shooting well. We weren't, but they were. The second half, we got some shots to go for Myron. We told him to be more aggressive.

"It's still a dog fight. We're co-champs with Kinston depending if they won or lost tonight. So, we're trying to get that number one seed in the playoffs just like Kinston. I think Greene Central's mindset is, 'we're the three seed, but we would like to be conference tournament championship on our resume."