BOYS' BASKETBALL: Poor second half dooms Cougars

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on December 17, 2016 11:25 PM

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If high school varsity games only had two quarters, Goldsboro would be in great shape this season.

But there's always the second half.

Rocky Mount Prep and Keyshawn Bryant knew this Friday. The Cougars, however, may have forgotten.

Bryant torched Goldsboro for 19 points in the second half, leading the Jaguars to a 77-66 victory and a regular-season sweep of the Cougars.

"We knew they didn't play a lot of players," said Cougars' head coach Russell Stephens. "We had them down and kind of let them off the hook with some broken down defensive assignments. With a team that's undefeated, that's all they need is a little bit of confidence."

In the first half, the Cougars played at their usual lightning-quick pace and turned the ball over just three times.

Toward the end of the second quarter, Goldsboro held a 36-27 lead, thanks in part to 10 turnovers committed by the Jaguars.

 "We got it into Isaiah (Wilder) and we got it inside to Ronnie (Tookes)," Stephens said. "And they did a good job of offensively rebounding the basketball. And we were scoring at will.

"But we weren't capitalizing on our runs."

The last two minutes of the first half witnessed an 8-2 run by Rocky Mount Prep. The Jaguars whittled the margin to 38-35, which foreshadowed what was to come after halftime.

The surge in the second half was spearheaded by Rocky Mount Prep's Bryant, who recorded eight points in the third quarter and 11 points in the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-4-inch junior also grabbed 11 rebounds in the game.

"(Bryant's) a very good player," Stephens said. "He got into a rhythm, where he was handling the ball and he was able to push it down and put it on the floor and get some easy baskets off of our press. When he got into a rhythm, his jump shot was falling from about 15 feet."

In the fourth quarter, the Jaguars' lead grew as large as 15 points. The Cougars committed 13 turnovers in the second half, more than quadrupling their total from the first half.

Goldsboro's Jaryan Hargis scored 20 points, including three 3-pointers. Wilder -- who finished with 15 points -- scored just three points in the second half. Ronnie Tookes was held scoreless after scoring nine in the first half.

Stephens said playing a talented, up-tempo team like Rocky Mount Prep will prepare the Cougars for what they'll see during the conference season.

Before that time comes, the veteran coach said he needs his players to raise their level of performance.

"The biggest thing for us, it doesn't matter who we see -- we've got to be at our best, especially at home," Stephens said. "We were not at our best tonight."