EW - W Carteret

By David Williams
Published in Sports on January 25, 2004 2:00 AM

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Eastern Wayne's boys basketball team certainly believes in share-and-share alike. It's the kind of philosophy that keeps then in the hunt for the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference regular-season title.

Eastern Wayne put five players in double figures and shot lights-out from the free-throw line to beat West Carteret 70-56 Friday night at the Warrior gym. The victory keeps Eastern Wayne (12-4, 10-1) right behind league-leader Kinston and four games ahead of the rest of the league in the loss column.

"The key for us is to play team basketball," said Eastern Wayne coach Marvin Bowman. "And it helps that these guys like each other. They are motivated within the team structure."

Eastern Wayne's girls played identically, notching double figures for four players and going 13-for-16 from the stripe in a 59-40 victory over the Lady Patriots. Eastern Wayne, buoyed by three straight wins, moved above the .500 mark in ECC play at 6-5 and improved to 7-9 overall.

West Carteret's boys, still in third place in the ECC, fell to 6-7 and 4-5. The Lady Patriots exited at 3-6 and 5-8 overall.

The Warriors led a tight game through most of the first half, but Adrian Kendrick and Justin Richardson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half. Kendrick went on to hit three 3's in the period, while Nate Walker added a three as part of a 20-11 stanza that moved Eastern Wayne's lead out to 14 points at 49-34 by the start of the fourth period.

In the final period, West Carteret unleashed a big gun in Johnny Thomas. The slender reserve forward scored 20 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, and 16 in the fourth period. Led by Thomas, the Patriots cut a 17-point deficit down to 10 points with three minutes left in the game.

But Eastern Wayne did what it had to do on the line, shooting 13-of-16 in the final period to pull away to a comfortable lead. For the game, Eastern Wayne was 18-of-23 at the free-throw line.

Adrian Kendrick, despite early foul trouble, come on in the second half and scored a team-high 15. Walker had 13, while Richardson and Derrick Joyner added 12 points each. Chris Campbell rounded out the quartet of double-figure men with 10 points.

Brandon Bryant had 13 and Cody Washington 11 for West Carteret.

The Warrior girls got little on offense from what is normally their strong suit -- center Jessy Perkins. The senior struggled on the floor, but made up for it by rebounding strong all night and blocking four shots.

The offense came from an expected source -- senior guard Nicole Greene had 15 -- and three unexpected ones. Freshman Yasmine Washington and 12 points, while junior Sierra King had 13 and Natasha Wiley had 10. All three usually average under ten points a game.

Eastern Wayne coach Brent Holland was pleased, especially with his team's rebounding effort in the second half.

"I saw a lot of unselfish effort," he said. "Yasmine and Natasha picked up the offense for Jessy and Natasha picked up her rebounding. We kept them off the boards better in the second half."

Greene's steal and layup before half made the game 29-27 Eastern Wayne. The Lady Warriors jumped out to an 8-0 run to start the second half, which proved to be the turning point of the contest. Eastern Wayne went six-of-seven at the free-throw line in the second half to seal the deal.

West Carteret's Angela Dunn led all scorers with 16 points, while Ausha Graham had 13 and Shade Hester added 11.

Eastern Wayne's teams have only one game next week -- a home date Tuesday with West Craven.

Boys game

West Carteret 12 12 11 21 -- 56

Eastern Wayne 14 15 20 21 -- 70

WEST CARTERET (6-7, 4-5)

Johnny Thomas 8 2 0-0 22, Brandon Bryant 6 0 1-2 13, Cody Washington 3 1 2-4 11, James Fox 2 0 1-2 5, Drew Poulk 0 1 2-2 5. TOTALS -- 19 4 6-10 56.

EASTERN WAYNE (12-4, 10-1)

Adrian Kendrick 1 3 4-4 15, Nate Walker 2 2 3-5 13, Justin Richardson 3 1 3-5 12, Derrick Joyner 4 0 4-5 12, Chris Campbell 4 0 2-2 10, Trey Nelson 2 0 2-2 6, Jamel Virgil 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 19 6 18-23 70.

Three-point baskets -- West Carteret 4 (Thomas 2, Poulk, Washington), Eastern Wayne 6 (Kendrick 3, Walker 2, Richardson). Turnovers -- West Carteret 22, Eastern Wayne 14. Total fouls -- West Carteret 15, Eastern Wayne 11. Fouled out -- none. Techincals -- none.

Girls game

West Carteret 13 14 8 14 -- 49

Eastern Wayne 13 16 17 13 -- 59

WEST CARTERET (5-8, 3-6)

Angela Dunn 6 0 4-10 16, Ausha Graham 5 0 3-10 13, Shade Hester 5 0 1-2 11, Amy Redman 0 1 2-3 5, Holly Paquin 0 0 2-2 2. B.J. Gouillon 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 17 1 12-27 49.

EASTERN WAYNE (7-9, 6-5)

Nicole Greene 4 0 7-8 15, Sierra king 4 0 5-6 13, Yasmine Washington 6 0 0-0 12, Kristen Elliott 3 0 0-0 6, Jessy Perkins 1 0 1-1 3. TOTALS -- 23 0 13-16 59.

Three-point baskets -- West Carteret 1 (Redman). Turnovers -- West Carteret 24, Eastern Wayne 24. Total fouls -- West Carteret 13, Eastern Wayne 19. Fouled out -- none. Techincals -- none.