(Pboro by Craig T. Greenlee
Mysta Goodloe came off the bench to lead the Demons with 15 points, which included three, 3-pointers. '
Eagles
from page HI
son for the Eagles bagging a tournament
title. Reynolds was taken completely out
of its game by East Forsyth's withering
zone press. All during the fust half, the
fust quarter in particular, the Demons
labored to bring the ball up-court without
making errant passes that led to fast-break
baskets for the Eagles.
"We felt like this was our tournament
to lose," said Sparrow, a JV returnee from
last season. "Coming in, we had a lot of
confidence. That's because we had a cou
ple of returning players, plus all of the new
sophomores we have for this season, got a
lot of experience playing on last year's
ninth-grade team. We felt like we could
win this thing. So we came out and made
our statement."
Over the first four minutes of the
game, East Forsyth bolted to a 15-2 lead.
By the end of the first quarter, the score at
that point (24-6 Eagles favor) was closer to
what you might see in a football game. In
?.JllLr?> 1 ' -J -Mil!,.. " ?
the process, East Forsyth continued
pounding the ball inside, which created
ample space for uncontested shots from
the perimeter. All-tournament picks Josh
Wiley and Josh Mahaffey took full advan
tage. Wiley totaled IS points and
Mahaffey contributed 10 points and eight
assists.
"During pre-game (warm-ups) I placed
a lot of emphasis on being active defen
sively and getting our hands in the passing
lanes," Minor said. "The whole point was
to make them play at our pace. When we
do that, we typically wear teams down. On
offense, the post softened things up for our
outside game. We have some good shoot
ers and they were able to knock down
shots with the looks they got."
The Demons' inability to generate
early offense proved costly. At times, they
trailed by as many as 14 points. In the final
analysis, it simply was too much to over
come.
"For some reason, we didn't come out
ready to play at the beginning of the
game," said coach Mike McCulloch of
Reynolds. "I don't know if it was because
of me cm- if it was our kids, it's hard to tell.
We let them get ahead way too much.
"I liked our fight and we did get the
lead down to nine. At least we made them
sweat it out a little bit in the second half."
Mysta Goodloe gave the Demons a
much-needed spark coming off the bench.
He finished the game with a team-best IS
points. Ian Henderson (All-Tournament
team) and Dashan Adams scored 11 points
each to round out the double figures scor
ing for the RJR.
To its credit, Reynolds did put together
a couple of second-half comeback
attempts, but it wasn't nearly enough. Even
when East Forsyth's lead shrank to nine
points (46-37 in the third), Minor saw no
reason to worry.
"I was never concerned about that," he
said. "Reynolds has some outstanding ath
letes and scorers. 1 thought we got a little
sloppy in the third quarter, rushing when
we didn't have to, and turning the ball over.
That's what allowed them to get scoring
opportunities in transition. Anytime you
do that, nothing good happens for your
team."
Titans finish third
The consolation game for third place
was relatively close in the first half. All
that changed early in the third quarter
when West Forsyth scored eight unan
swered points. The Titans encountered no
problems after that in their 64-51 victory
over Mount Tabor.
As things turned out, the early flurry
was all that West Forsyth needed. The
Titans outscored the Spartans 20-9 in the
third, and that settled the issue. Mount
Tabor was never able to reduce the deficit
to single digits.
Kelvin Johnson topped West Forsyth
with 14 points, followed by JaQuan
McMiilian, who had 13. Jaylon McMillon
finished with 11 points.
For Mount Tabor, the tournament's top
seed, Dillon Bullard led all scorers with 22
points. Carson Anthis chipped in with 10
points.
Championship Game
East Forsyth 68, Reynolds 58
3rd-Round Consolation
West Forsyth 64, Mount Tabor 51
Semifinals
East Forsyth 53, West Forsyth 47
Reynolds 77, Mount Tabor 70
Quarterfinals
West Forsyth 59, Reagan 54, OT
East Forsyth 80, Glenn 69
Mount Tabor 94, Winston-Salem Prep 84
Reynolds 67, Lexington 51
All-Tournament Team
Josh Wiley, East Forsyth
JaQuan McMillian, West Forsyth
Ian Henderson, Reynolds
Josh Mahaffey, East Forsyth
Connor Sparrow, East Forsyth
(He is the Lash-Chronicle MVP.)
Photo by Craig T. Greeoloe
Mount Tabor's Darren Crump (10) blocks shot attempt of Prep's Jalen Crawley
as Duncan Smits (21) closes in.
Reign
from page WT
that"
The Spartans led 49-37
at the half, but by late in
the third quarter, the
Phoenix made a big push
to close the gap. Zachery
Austin hit back-to-back 3s
and a layup to cut the
deficit to 63-61 with 1:42
left in the third quarter.
Over the next three
minutes, Mount Tabor
regrouped and extended its
lead to 77-65 with 6:33 to
go in the game. Prep, now
2-5, did close to within
seven points of the lead at
89-82, but Bullard scored
inside with 38 seconds left
to end any hopes of a
t.
Phoenix comeback.
'Towards the end of
the fourth quarter, we made
some mistakes on
defense," said Harrison.
"We were beaten really bad
off the drive. When some
one gets in the lane and
scores like that, it says
something about your
defense. The good thing is
that we have time to fix
that."
The game didn't start
well for Prep. KJ. Watson,
last year's Lash-Chronicle
MVP, picked up his third
foul late in the first quarter.
Watson sat for a good por
tion of the first half, and
finished up with 14 points.
Watson's issues with fouls
set the stage for lyren
lb
Hairston to take over.
Hairston went into over
drive mode and fired away
for 36 points to lead all
scorers. Austin added 13
points and Jalen Crawley
scored 10.
"We played about as
well as we could possibly
play," said coach Bill Tibbs
of Winston-Salem Prep.
"KJ. got those fouls in the
beginning of the game and
that really hurt us. But
Tyren Hairston really came
through. If the ball bounces
our way a little more and
Zach (Austin) doesn't foul
out, we might have made it
a little closer. But we also
hurt our chances (to win)
by missing nine free
throws."
Wynn
from page El
tournament and the man
who the tournament is
named after.
In a career that spanned
32 years, David Lash
coached football, tennis
and basketball at Carver,
Atkins and East Forsyth. In.
1997, he was enshrined in
the N.C. Tennis
Foundation Hall of Fame.
SW: Looking back
over all the tournaments
you've attended, is there
any year that stands out
over the others?
Wynn: That would be
the tournament in which
the championship game
went into triple overtime.
Carver finally won by one
point over Greensboro
Smith. That was 1995,
which was a very good
tournament. There were no
run-aways in any of the
games that year.
SW: In your opinion,
has the tournament
changed any?
Wynn: There's a con
/?
stant change in JV teams
because there's a constant
change in coaches. There
have been very few indi
viduals who have coached
JV teams for a number of
successive years. So that
means that each year, a dif
ferent coach will bring in
his different style of play.
A lot of times, the JV
team's style of play has
nothing to do with what the
varsity is doing. But even
so, they've had very good
play during their time (at
that school).
SW: What is it about
the Lash-Chronicle tourna
ment that has helped it to
become the showcase for
JV basketball in Forsyth
County?
Wynn: The Lash
Chronicle has proven to be
a preparatory tournament.
Not only does this tourna
ment prepare players for
the Frank Spencer Classic
(premier boys varsity event
in Winston-Salem), but
also for the competition in
the state playoffs.
SW: Is there a way to
determine how much of a
role the tournament plays
?
in helping players get
ready for intense competi
tion?
Wynn: We've had a
number of teams who have
represented this area well
in the playoffs. Many of
the members of those
teams got their start in the
Lash-Chronicle. This tour
nament gives players a
familiarity with what they
can expect in top-level
tournament games and the
playoffs.
SW: As a former ath
letics director at Carver,
you worked with David
Lash for a number of years.
What are your fondest
memories of him?
Wynn: My fondest
memories are of him as a
teacher and as a person
who always put the athlete
first. Coach Lash demand
ed a great deal from his
athletes in the classroom;
that came first. If you can
handle the classroom, it
means that you can handle
on-the-field and on-the
court activities. He was a
teacher first and a coach
second.