SportsWeek
Also Community, Religion and Classifieds January 1, 2015
IJMM?K? ? i ? i ,i i f , B ????
% Photos by Charles E. Leftwich Jr.
Brandon Palmer (11) leads the press for Winston-Salem Prep's stifling defense.
Secret ot TKetr Success |
Prep earns bragging
rights again
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
The final minutes of tightly-contested
basketball games bring out the best in
Winston-Salem Prep's junior varsity. It's
during those crunch-time stretches when
the Phoenix delivers and opponents fall
by the wayside.
Prep bagged its third Lash-Chronicle
championship in four years by staging
late-game comebacks against pesky
Reagan (60-53 in semifinals) and
resilient West Forsyth (69-64 in finals)
last week. The common denominator in
both contests was the Phoenix's uncanny
ability to grab rebounds and chase down
loose balls on every critical possession.
"We place heavy emphasis on making
those plays at the end of games which
determines the final outcome," said
Coach Tibbs
Coach Bill Tibbs. "We feel like we
should get every 50-50 b^ll. What it
comes down to is playing hard. Good
things happen when you play hard con
sistently. We tell our kids all the time that
offense is exciting, but defense wins
titles. Sometimes when you've won in the
past, players listen. This' group has
bought into what we teach. They listen."
Pressure defense sets the standard.
Prep plays at a frenzied, but not desperate
pace. It's a calculating approach. Over
the course of a game, the cumulative
effect of Prep's pressure causes rushed
shots and ill-timed passes, which fre
quently leads to deflections, steals and
points in transition for the Phoenix.
Prep wears opponents down because
it can attack in defensive waves by press
ing and trapping. The Phoenix has sever
al rangy players, who make it difficult for
opposing ball-handlers to operate effi
ciently. Brandon Palmer, Jonathan
McLaurin and Justin Carter use their size
and quickness to clog the passing lanes
and neutralize fast breaking teams.
Palmer and Carter are both swing players
who play multiple positions. McLaurin is
a post player who's agile enough to serve/
as the lead defender on Prep's presses
See Prep on B2
/\<x i moio oy Kevin l. uorscy
Steven Burrough in action.
A ?
Aggies
break long
losing skid
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
The North Carolina A&T men's
basketball team doesn't care that it
was against a Division III oppo
nent. The Aggies also don't care
that they needed two late steals to
do it.
After 12 straight losses, the only
thing that mattered to the Aggies in
their Sunday, Dec. 28 58-54 win
over North Carolina Wesleyan at
Corbett Sports Center was the vic
tory. The team last won on Friday,
Nov. 14, 2014, when it took down
Greensboro College in the sea^pn
opener.
"We were not able to get out of
first gear effort-wise," said A&T
head coach Cy Alexander. "I wasn't
particularly happy with our effort,
but I'm
happy we
were able
to win the
game
because we
needed it.
Now we
have some
thing to
build on."
Junior
Bruce
Beckford
led A&T
with 18
Alexander
points and seven rebounds.
Redshirt freshman James Whitaker
had 12 points, while junior Arturs
Bremers finished with 11.
Sophomore Steven Burrough added
seven points and a career-high
seven blocks.
The Aggies (2-12) spent one
month away from Corbett. In the
process, the Aggies had close calls
against St. Louis, Mississippi
Valley State and Radford. But they
were not able to win any of those
games. After a 71-57 setback at
KefttvSJtate on Dec. 19, the Aggies
took fW days off and did not return
to Greensboro until Dec. 26. They
had one light day of practice before
preparing for the Bishops.
"We were definitely sluggish
and played as if we were stuck in
mud," said Alexander. "We were a
day late and a dollar short to every
rebound and every loose ball."
The Bishops (6-4) did have an
impressive effort. They never
trailed by more than nine points and
an Adrian Moore 3-pointer tied the
game at 50 with 1:48 to
play. Seconds later, A&T's fresh
man point guard slapped the ball
away from Adrian Moore and raced
to the other end where he was
fouled. He made one of two free
throws to give A&T the lead again.
On the Bishops' next posses
sion, Beckford stepped in front of
Moore's pass for another steal that
led to two more Aggies free throws.
A&T's lead went to four, 55-51, on
two Whitaker free throws with 17
seconds remaining.
The win ends A&T's longest
losing streak since the 2005-06 sea
son when they lost 13 straight.
Salem's Mojica makes academic team
Salem College's Nataly Mojica joined
just eight other NCAA Dili soccer players
on the NSCAA Academic All-South team.
The senior from Dallas, Texas is major
ing in Economics, International Business,
and Spanish and has a 3.72 cumulative grade
point average. Mojica was a four-year start
ing center midfielder for Salem, and was a
four year Great South All-Conference play
er.
She started all 23 games for the Spirits
this season and captained the team to an 18
5 overall record. She finished with 8 goals
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
and 7 assists for 23
points to help the n
team win its third- P
straight GSAC
Regular Season Title
and their second
straight GSAC
Tournament
Championship.
Mojica was the
GSAC Player of the
Week once and was
on the GSAC All-Academic Team every
year she was eligible.
She has earned several honors at Salem
Mojica
as well. She is a member of Mortar Board
(Senior Honor & Leadership Society),
Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership
Honor Society, and Omicron Delta Epsilon
(International Economics Honor Society).
She won the Hispanic Scholarship Fund
Scholar in 2011, 2012 and 2014. She was in
the Alpha Lambda Delta Freshman Honor
Society and a LeaderShape Institute partici
pant. She has been on the Dean's List every
semester and won the Mary Ardrey Stough
Kimbrough Leadership Award. She also was
nominated by the dean of Salem College for
the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Scholarship.
A Comeback?
Carver bailers showing promise
Pholo by Craig Greenlee
Jachia Powell provides interior defense and
rebounding for the Yellow jackets.
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
Carver's varsity basketball team
just might be on track to experience
its first winning season since
President Barack Obama's first year
in the White House. The
Yellowjackets, who won seven of
their first 10 games, have the look of
a legitimate contender in the chase
for the Western Piedmont 2-A
Conference title.
Positive signs abound for a
Carver program that went 1-19 in the
not-too-distant past (2012-13 sea
son). The overall talent level is high
er than it's been in recent years.
Coach Wil Perry took command last
year as head coach and while the
overall record was below .500 (12
15), the Yellowjackets more than
held their own against conference
competition.
Carver (7-3 in conference a year
ago)vWas the WPC runner-up for the
regular season and the conference
tournament. The Yellowjackets exit
ed the Class 2-A state playoffs early,
but gave a strong indication of better
things to come in a 58-53 first-round
loss to Central Academy.
"I'm pleased with the progress
we're making," said Perry. "They're
growing, working hard and trusting
each other more and more. Our com
Soe Carver on B2
i ! i '