Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Dec. 17, 2015, edition 1 / Page 14
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Wins fivmpagetl ready for (top seed) Mount Tabor next week. We have all our players now, so we'll just come out here (for the upcoming quarter final round) and see what happens." As the first quarter pro gressed, things got pro gressively worse for the Yellow Jackets, who trailed by nine points at the end of the quarter. By intermis sion, Prep's lead ballooned to 46-12. "Turnovers, missed free throws and not getting back on defense hurt us badly," said coach Roderick Fluellen of Carver. "Once we fell behind, it was hard for us to get back in the game. But the season is still young and we have time to grow as individuals and as a team." REAGAN STUNS THOMASVILLE: With 3.2 seconds left to play in the game , coach Jeff Noe o f Reagan called a time out to set up what he hoped would be the game-winning play. The Raiders trailed Thomas ville by a basket and needed a 3-pointer to snatch victory from defeat. Zach Pascual took the pass on the left wing, squared his shoulders and hit a 28-foot bank shot from the left wing that gave Reagan a dramatic 62-61 comeback win over the Bulldogs. "Our guys battled and they scrapped," said Noe. "When you draw up a play, there's always a 50-50 chance that it will work. This time, things worked out in our favor." The Raiders showed resilience in spite of suffer' ing a disappointing loss to rival Mount Tabor the night before. In Noe's mind, the comeback repre sents a big step in his team's development. "We kept telling them this (first round of the tour nament) is a new day," said Noe. "One of the things we talked about all game long was overcoming physical fatigue with mental tough ness. When things mat tered most, they found a way to win." Ryan Ayers scored a team-high 16 points to lead the Raiders, followed by Brandon Hanna, who con tributed IS points. Pascual finished with 13 and Shammond Dockery chipped in with 10 points. GLENN SURPRISES: Based on seeding, Glenn (11th) wasn't supposed to make it past the first round. Now, it's clear that the Bobcats paid no attention to where they were seeded. Marcus Harris poured in 20 points and Micah Bennett contributed 13 as Glenn topped No. 6 Parkland, 64-54. After starting the season 0-3, the Bobcats have won four in a row. "Being mentally focused, that was the dif ference," said coach Richard Daniels. "That's what we were lacking ear lier in the season. Parkland made a run late in the fourth quarter, but we stepped it up over the final two minutes." REYNOLDS PRE VAILS: In the first half, 13th-seeded North Forsyth gave Reynolds all it could handle. But the second half was vastly different as the Demons shifted into high gear to win handily, 87-65. Reynolds went up by eight in the second quarter. But the Vikings rallied and pulled to within a basket of the lead (42-40) on Aaron Worthy's 3-pointer in the final seconds before inter mission. LEXINGTON DOMI NATES: The fifth-seeded Tournament Dirctor Wynn Photo by Craig T. Greenlee Marcus Harris (4) led the Bobcats to a first-round victory over the Mustangs. (All games played at Carver High School;) Parentheses denotes seed number) First round scoreboard (No. 3) East Forsyth 81, (No. 14) Walkertown 14 (No. 4) Reynolds 87, (No. 13) North Forsyth 65 (No. 5) Lexington 68, (No. 12) Atkins 27 (No. 11) Glenn 64, (No. 6) Parkland 54 (No. 10) Reagan 62, (No. 7) Thomasville 61 (No. 9) Winston-Salem Prep 70, (No. 8) Carver 32 Quarterfinals, Dec. 19 Reagan vs. (No. 2) West Forsyth, 3:30 p.m. Glenn vs. East Forsyth, 5 p.m. Winston-Salem Prep vs. (No. 1) Mount Tabor, 6:30 p.m. Lexington vs. Reynolds, 8 p.m. Semifinals, Dec. 21 . Glenn-East Forsyth winner vs. Reagan-West Forsyth winner, 6:30 p.m. Winston-Salem Prep-Mount Tabor winner vs. Lexington-Reynolds winner, 8 p.m. Finals, Dec. 22 Third-place consolation game, 6 p.m. Championship game, 7:30 p.m. Yellow Jackets made short work of Atkins in this match-up.. Lexington led from the opening tip and never let up in a 68-27 vic tory. EAGLES SOAR: Thirteen East Forsyth play ers scored at least one field goal in an 81-14 blow-out win over Walkertown. Tanis Samuels and Avery Hall scored 11 points apiece for the victors and Jimmy Nichols chipped in with 10. QEA from page BI SW: QEA is off for two-and-half weeks for Christmas break. What's the coach's report after 12 games? Pitts: With nine new players, we're still a work in progress. SW: The Pharaohs split two games in the Marshall County Hoopfest in Kentucky earlier this month. What did you learn about your team? Pitts: We play top level competition when we're on the road, and we took a loss in Kentucky. But it was to the fourth ranked team in the country (Huntington Prep of W.Va.) by six points. With that said, I like our fight. We were down in that game, but we were right there in it. At this point in the sea son, our guys are learning how to play with each other and learning their roles. That's so important. SW: What are you most pleased with at this juncture? Pitts: The guys have stuck through the (learning curve) process together. They're still playing hard, still responding to coach ing, and that's always a good sign. SW: Playing intense defense has always been a key part of QEA's style of play. How's that coming along so far? Pitts: We're a good defensive team. When we get away from our defen sive principles, that's when we tend to lose. The guys start thinking they can win games with offense. But for us to be at our very best, we have to go back to what our staple is at QEA. And that's playing hard-nosed defense. We play hard and we play aggressive. It's defense first and that trans lates to offense for us. SW: Is there one aspect of QEA's game that you want to get fixed as soon as possible? Pitts: Rebounding. We're not very big, so we must rebound by commit tee. Our guards have to rebound in their areas (on the floor) and we ask our bigs to rebound outside their area. If the guards would just rebound their area, for loose rebounds and long rebounds and then our bigs rebound they way they should, we'll be just fine. SW: It's no secret that Desean Corprew is the player that QEA looks to for scoring. Still, it's criti cal that a team has other players who can contribute offensively. Who can fill that role as the Pharaohs get deeper into their season schedule? Pitts: Jaylan McGill is our second-leading scorer. Desean is averaging 26 points a game and Jaylan is averaging right at 17. Our point guard Ranathan Ona Embo is averaging 13 points and 11 assists. We're a guard-heavy team. On some nights, we're getting scoring support from (power forward) Pape Ndiaye. SW: What's the season been like for Ndiaye up to now? Pitts: He's finally get ting back into a rhythm. With a torn ACL and being out of basketball for an entire year - with no work in the summer at all - I think he's doing pretty good. We have a good nucleus of five or six play ers. (Post player) Marsellis Purvis is great and then there's the young kid - Andre' Toure - he's really special. SW: Any other thoughts about this season? Pitts: We believe that we're right where we want to be. We're going to Detroit (for the Detroit Classic) on the 29th of this month and we'll play a Prolific Prep team with the No. 1 player in the country for 2016 (Josh Jackson). The schedule doesn't get any easier for us. "This is who we play night in and night out when we're on the road. Photo by Craig T. Greenlee Renathan Ona Embo has stepped forward as QEA's undisputed floor leader who's averaging 13 points and 11 assists per game. Home teams from page B1 trailed 6-0. On their next offensive possession, the Ravens answered quickly. Jason Cowan broke free on a 60-yard ran and two plays later, Jaylen Carter scored from 29 yards out to the tie game at 6-6. Tabb ran for the PAT that proved to be the game-winner. The Ravens beat the Toms River Raiders (N J.) in the first round. Christopher Wilbom threw a 20-yard scoring pass to tight end Gareon Greene and Cowan raced 50 yards for a touchdown in a 12-7 win. "The Ravens' coaches are thankful for all the support we've gotten this year," said Brown. "We ended the year as the No. 2 team in the nation. Next year, we'll move up to Junior Pee Wees and we plan on coming back (to the nationals). We're looking to be No. 1. next year and we know we have to prove it." RAIDERS: Kernersville's Junior Midgets earned a fourth-place finish at the Division II nationals. The Raiders advanced by beating the Northwest Dolphins of Maryland in the first round (14-12). After that, they suf fered shutout losses to Shadow Hills (Calif.) 16-0 and Fauquier (Va.) 20-0. , j Against the Dolphins, Darius Williams opened the scoring for the Raiders with a 35-yard touchdown run. Northwest took the lead 12-7 in the second half, but Kemersville came back to take control. Mekai Fenner scored on a 10-yard run to give the Raiders a lead it would never relinquish. The Dolphins threatened to score in the final minutes, but Zach Monnette made a touchdown-saving tackle to keep Northwest out of the end zone. The Dolphins attempted a potential game-winning field goal, but the kick was wide left. The Raiders took over on downs and took a knee to run out the clock. PACKERS: All hopes for a national title for the Packers vanished in a 20-14 first-round loss to the North Philly Blackhawks (Pa.) in the Division I Junior Midgets Division. The Blackhawks finished as this year's national runner-up. The Packers (12-1) encountered little resistance in posting a 35-0 win over the West Valley Demons (Ariz.) in the consolation bracket. In the next round, the Packers topped Palo Alto (Calif.) 28-22 to secure a third-place fin ish. BOBCATS: Union Cross, which finished the season at 10-4, never got in sync at the Divisidn II nationals (Pee Wees Division). In the opening round, the Bobcats lost 27-13 to Woodbridge of Washington, D.C. Two days later, they suffered a 32-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers (Calif.) in the consolation round. In spite of ending their season with back-to-back loss es. the Bobcats achieved more than expected. A year ago, this team finished up with a 1-8 record. "This season was nothing short of great," said coach Ralph Turner. "At the nationals, our players learned that if you can't fight through adversity, you'll have a long day. But on the other hand, nobody can take away the fact that we are state and regional champions. We came to Florida to try and add to that, but just couldn't pull it off." Jaron Sellers scored the Bobcats only touchdown of the consolation game on a 5-yard run. "fy Lyles threw a pass to Javon Meyers for the PAT. In the first round. Union Cross couldn't overcome player ejections, injuries and untimely mistakes that wiped out scoring opportunities in the red zone. By the fourth quarter of that game, the Bobcats roster was down to 12 players. Lyles ran 45 yards for a touchdown and Meyers scored on a 5-yard run to account for the Bobcats' scor ing. "For us, it was a mistake-filled game," said Turner. "Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We had some critical turnovers and just couldn't get the job done in the red zone."
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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