North Lenoir dominates Rams

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on February 4, 2004 2:08 PM

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SNOW HILL -- If anyone wanted to see just how athletic and dangerous the North Lenoir basketball team is, a 10-second span in the third period in their rivalry clash with Greene Central is all the proof needed.

Junior Justin Dunn, who led the Hawks with 22 points, drove the left baseline and dunked one handed over a Ram defender. Seconds later, Greene Central transfer Jamie Mason picked up a steal, dribbled down the middle of the lane and tossed a pass off of the backboard to an oncoming Kevin Lee, who flushed home a thunderous, two-handed dunk.

In a night full of impressive scoring runs and highlights, North Lenoir (16-4 overall) handled the Rams 90-59 to move to 4-2 in the Class 2-A Eastern Plains Conference.

"I don't know if we can play any better than we played tonight. We knew all along we could pretty good, we just had to get our head on right and start playing as a team," North Lenoir coach Charlie Stevens said. "When you play like a good team, good things happen."

It was also a somber night as Greene Central mourned the death of one of their own, Delaun Sullivan. The junior, who played on the junior varsity squad last season and was slated to have a varsity spot this year, died of cardiac arrest on Monday after recently being diagnosed with cancer.

North Lenoir's girls struggled early, falling behind 7-0 to the Lady Rams (7-14, 2-5 EPC 2-A) before regrouping on both ends of the court to pull away with a 55-41 win. The win improved the Lady Hawks (18-2 overall) to 5-1 in conference play.

Three players combined to account for 93 percent of North Lenoir's offensive total. Lonnie Jones dropped in 20 points, while teammates Shannon Plymouth and Katie Maloney scored 16 and 15 points, respectively.

It proved to be a total team effort for North Lenoir on the defensive end though as the Hawks' full-court pressure and ability to consistently out-rebound a taller Greene Central squad helped fuel the win.

"We needed a game like this. Greene Central came out and played real hard and made us work hard," North Lenoir coach Wayne Floyd said.

Teketia May paced Greene Central, who travels to conference leader SouthWest Edgecombe on Friday, with 16 points in the loss.

The North Lenoir boys got out to a streaky start on their way to leading the entire game.

Keyed by three 3-pointers by Dunn, the Hawks scored 18 points in less than five minutes to take an 18-3 lead. Greene Central stepped up the defensive effort in the late stages of the first and managed to pull to within eight at 20-12 before the second period.

It didn't take long for the Hawks to re-assert themselves in the second as center Kevin Lee controlled the defensive glass and the paint, while Mason, Cobb and Best added three-pointers in a convincing, 22-2 run.

Lee finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots. Best, Mason and Cobb joined Dunn and Lee in double figures by midway through the third period. The Hawks posted at least 20 points in each period.

Junior Kesselbach emerged as the one bright spot for Greene Central on the night as the guard finished with 25 points, including five three's. Kesselbach's point total accounted for 42 percent of his team's offense.

"On defense, it seemed like every man they had was a step quicker than us," Greene Central coach Kevin Hart said. "We couldn't contain anything."

Girls

North Lenoir 12 13 20 10 -- 55

Greene Central 6 10 10 15 -- 41

NORTH LENOIR (18-2, 5-1)

Lonnie Jones 9 0 2-6 20, Shannon Plymouth 8 0 0-2 16, Katie Maloney 7 0 1-1 15, Chanee Lynch 1 0 0-0 2, Tammy Moye 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 26 0 3-9 55.

GREENE CENTRAL (7-14, 2-5)

Teketia May 5 0 6-13 16, Briana Stanton 5 0 1-3 11, Fernanda Brown 1 0 4-6 6, April Jones 1 0 0-0 2, Diandra Tyson 1 0 0-0 2, Driel Rodgers 1 0 0-0 2, Shennika King 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 15 0 11-19 41.

Turnovers -- North Lenoir 17, Greene Central 25. Total fouls -- North Lenoir 17, Greene Central 11. Fouled out -- none. Technicals -- none.

Boys

North Lenoir 20 24 21 25 -- 90

Greene Central 12 14 11 22 -- 59

NORTH LENOIR (16-4, 4-2)

Justin Dunn 4 4 2-2 22, Kevin Lee 6 0 4-10 16, Jamie Mason 3 1 2-4 11, Leon Best 2 1 4-4 11, John Cobb 2 1 3-3 10, Omar Jones 2 0 2-2 6, Calvin Super 3 0 0-0 6, C.J. Sherrod 2 0 0-0 4, E.J. Brown 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 25 7 17-25 90.

GREENE CENTRAL (9-12, 3-4)

Junior Kesselbach 5 5 0-2 25, Dreyon Willis 2 1 2-2 9, Jonathan Gage 2 0 2-2 6, Charles Gamble 2 0 1-2 5, Clifton Chapman 1 1 0-0 5, Rodney Wilkes 2 0 0-0 4, Kenny Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Jordy Davis 0 0 2-2 2, Teddy Waters 0 0 2-5 2, Tykii Swinson 0 0 0-2 0. TOTALS -- 15 7 9-17 59.

Three-point baskets -- North Lenoir 7 (Dunn 4, Mason, Best, Cobb), Greene Central 7 (Kesselbach 5, Willis, Chapman). Turnovers -- North Lenoir 11, Greene Central 15. Total fouls -- North Lenoir 13, Greene Central 15. Fouled out -- none. Technicals -- none.