Monday, Jan. 25, 2010

Garner stays perfect in the league

It may not have been the way Garner boys basketball coach Eddie Gray would have scripted it, but the Trojans improved to an impressive 7-0 record in conference play with a 70-62 overtime win over a game West Johnston team Friday.

Up 10 points with 4:12 to play, the Trojans saw their lead evaporate as West mounted a furious comeback. West Johnston outscored Garner 22-11 in the fourth quarter and sent the game into overtime as C.J. Frederick found a wide-open Ben Jacobs under the basket for the game-tying lay-up with three seconds remaining.

The Trojans opened the door for West Johnston in the closing minutes as they misfired on nine of their 16 foul shots down the stretch, missing an opportunity to close out the home team.

"In the fourth quarter, we didn't hit our free throws and we took some dumb shots that we shouldn't have taken," said Gray. "[West Johnston] hit some timely 3s and the next thing you know, we're in overtime."

In overtime, Garner's fortunes from the foul line changed dramatically as the Trojans hit 14 of 16 foul shots to finally put away the Wildcats. The key in the reversal of fortunes was who was taking the shots.

Doing much of the damage for Garner (8-6 overall) at the line in the extra frame was Donald Johnson. Johnson, who had a game-high 24 points for the Trojans, finished the night 16-for-20 from the foul line.

"Donald Johnson took the ballgame on his shoulders there in overtime," Gray said. "We worked schemes to get him the ball so he'd get fouled and shoot free throws and attack the basket. He had a big game for us in overtime.

"This team's on a roll here and this is a big win for us."

West fell behind early in overtime and never threatened afterwards.

"The team that scores first has a big advantage in overtime," said West Johnston coach Kris Bennett. "Because then you get put into a situation when you have to foul and you're looking at the scoreboard and you're trying to overcome it.

"In overtime, a lot of teams play the scoreboard more than their opponent and I think we kind of fell into that."

Garner's defensive pressure and willingness to push the pace frustrated the Wildcats in the second quarter as West (8-6 overall, 4-3 conference) could only muster one point from the foul line for the entire eight-minute period, necessitating that they play catch-up the rest of the way.

West's Shaquille Dance and Mark Parker led the comeback from behind the three-point line in the second half as Dance connected from long range five times over the final 20 minutes and Parker hit three treys of his own.

The Wildcats had three players in double figures as Parker had 22 points, Dance had 16 and Jacobs added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

"Our guys battled all night," said Bennett. "Definitely this was a big-time conference game, a big-time conference atmosphere. Both teams were banging and scrapping and fighting for everything."

Stephon Drane, although held to six points on the night, filled up the other columns in the box score as he collected 13 rebounds, six blocks and four steals. Josh McClain had 15 points for Garner and Gavin Wilson added 12.

The Trojans will travel to Knightdale on Friday.