cents
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March 6, 2003
The Kings Mountain Herald
Page 7A
SECTIONAL
From 6A
exceptional games.”
The Smith brothers didn’t
practice with the team on
Tuesday. McDowell took
them home from school
when he was notified of
Frank Smith's death.
Tuesday afternoon’s prac-
tice wasn’t easy for anyone,
he said.
“I took their jerseys and
hung them on the bleachers,
just like they were there,” he
noted. “The other kids just
rallied behind them. It was
unbelievable.”
It was evident all the play-
ers were putting too much
pressure on themselves to
perform well in
Wednesday's game with
East Gaston. After building
an early 13-6 lead, the
Mountaineers found them-
selves in a 19-19 tie at half-
time and trailing 31-27
going into the fourth quar-
ter.
That's when Derrick
Smith, the team’s point
guard, took charge. He had
two thunderous dunks in
the final two minutes as KM
came from six points down
to win. After the first dunk,
the emotion was so strong
he broke down in tears
under the basket and was
consoled by his brother
Courtney as Mountaineer
fans poured onto the court.
After the second dunk
McDowell took him out of
the game to a standing ova-
tion by the capacity crowd.
Derrick Smith finished
with 17 points. Guard
Dashawn Young scored 18.
Blake Stoddard led East
Gaston with 21.
While Smith’s dunks
“were fantastic” and
brought the house down,
according to McDowell it
was defense and rebounding
that once again saved the
Mountaineers.
Kings Mountain garnered
61 rebounds, including 33
on the offensive end.
Dominique Odems had 12,
Gabe Blair 11 and Brandon
Houze 9.
Mountaineers held the
Warriors other players
under double figures and
forced the Warriors into 25
turnovers.
“I felt good about holding
their other big scorers
down,” McDowell said.
“Our defensive pressure has
been carrying us the last
couple of weeks.”
Friday night's game
against Forestview was very
similar to the East Gaston
game. Again, the Mounties
grabbed an early lead only
to find themselves trailing
by 18-17 at the half and 29-
27 going into the fourth
quarter.
But again, they got a spec-
tacular performance from
Derrick Smith on offense
KM’s Dominique Odems (24) ventures into the land of
the giants in Wednesday game with East Gaston
and defense, and a tremen-
dous rebounding effort
inside. Smith scored a game-
high 19 points and held
Forestview’s leading scorer
Brad Hoyle to just three - a
3-point field goal in the
fourth quarter.
The Mountaineers
grabbed 61 rebounds,
including 34 on offense.
Blair led the way with 16,
Houze had 13 and Odems
11.
Just like Wednesday night,
ithe Mounties hit less than 50
percent of their foul shots
!
|
and less than 30 percent
Even though Stoddard from the field. KM - D. Smith 19, Odems
( ripped thewels for A EamS: ge It wats thewsame song, “#9, Blair 6,Byrd 6, Young 5,
| high 21 pints the fy booige cDowell said. “We shoot ~~ Houze 4.
the ball below par and win
by seven points. And what
was so special about it was
it was another emotional
game. Brad Hole came in
here averaging 19 points a
game and Derrick held him
to three points. I think he
went 1-for-9 from the from
the field. Chris Rayfield,
their second leading scorer,
managed only five points.
Brandon Houze said he
wanted him, and he took it
as a personal challenge to
hold him down. I have to
applaud those two guys for
their defensive effort.
“The whole team played
well defensively,” McDowell
added.”If we shoot the ball
well in either of those games
the score wouldn't have
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REGIONAL
From 6A
before falling to Ashbrook.
McDowell, whose club
carries a 21-5 overall record
and a share of the SWFH
championship into the
Regionals, credits the two
graduating seniors off last
year’s club - All-Ccnference
standouts Josh Gash and
Brandon Roberts - with giv-
ing the Mountaineers the
advice they needed to take
their game to another level
this year.
“We got to the Sectional
finals last year and lost,”
McDowell noted. “After the
game they told our return-
ing players if they would
come back and work really
hard and
be dedicated, they could
win the Sectional champi-
onship this year.”
McDowell built on that
advice on the first day of
practice this year. When the
players came into the gym
they saw all kinds of big
banners on the gym floor.
McDowell had printed out
items such as last year’s
records and accomplish-
ments, then took a pair of
GARY STEWART / HERALD
been that close. We were
down to Forestview by five
points with 2:08 left and
went on a 14-2 run to end
the game and win by seven.
The guys just refused to
quit.”
KM 53, E. GASTON 46
KM - Young 18. D. Smith
17 Blair 6, Odems 5,
Roshu 3, Byrd 2, C. Smith
® mG. Stoddard 21, Forney
6, Helms 6, Moore 6, Bridges
3, Wilkinson 2, Brown 2.
KM 49, FORESTVIEW 42
FV - Miller g4, Forley 12,
Adams 6, Rayfield 5. Hoyle
3, Willis 2.
KM’s Heath Walker gets
off a short jumper in
Sectional Tourney.
scissors and cut them up. He
threw them in the trash can
and told the players “they
don’t mean anything any-
more,” and laid a banner of
a big question mark in the
middle of the floor and told
them “you answer that
question this year.”
“I'm just real proud of
them for what they've
accomplished,” he said. “We
were picked to finish fourth
in the conference because
we had lost two all-confer-
“ence players. But our kids
didn’t believe that!
“The good thing about
this team now, is that we
don’t start but one senior,”
he added. “I'm real proud of
them whether they win
another game or not.
They've meant a lot to the
program here. They’ve done
the school well and they're a
class bunch of young men.”
Winning the Regional
Tournament would be a
monumental task for the
10th-ranked Mountaineers.
All four of the teams in the
field have been ranked in
the top ten most of the sea-
son. Union Pines just recent-
ly fell out of the top ten.
West Rowan, which has won
three of the past four State
championships and has won
58 games in a row, is ranked
#1 in the State and T.C.
Roberson, which is unde-
feated, is ranked #2.
“It’s getting pretty big
right about now. They're all
tough,” says McDowell.
“There are no cupcakes.
That's why we play that
tough non-conference sched-
ule - to get ready for what
we're doing now.”
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