High School Hoops: Cougars put Bears away

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on November 26, 2006 2:02 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Maybe it was the inspiration of playing in a building which was his namesake, but whatever the reason, Tim Kornegay played some outstanding basketball at Kornegay Arena this weekend.

The senior guard scored 11 of his team's 14 first-quarter points en route to an 18-point night that helped Goldsboro salvage a third-place finish in the 2006 Mount Olive Tip-Off Classic with a 67-57 win over the New Bern Bears on Saturday.

"There's four Division I colleges looking at him," Goldsboro coach Rand Jordan said of Kornegay. "Whoever gets Tim is going to get a steal. He's a mid-major or Division I player who is being overlooked because he's 6-foot-3."

Other than Kornegay, no other Cougar reached double figures. The balanced attack got nine points off the bench from senior Jameson Wellington.

"(Jameson's) coming into his own," Jordan said. "He just has to get his confidence up and keep believing that he can play on the floor. He did a really nice job tonight."

New Bern (2-2) was led by Bobby McLawhorn who scored 20 points.

The ugly game saw the two teams combine to commit 53 turnovers, 29 by Goldsboro and 24 from New Bern. Many of the errors were unforced and simply a lack of concentration on both ends.

Still though, the Cougars made the plays when they needed to, to finish off the Bears.

"It was a nice evolution from last night to tonight," said Jordan, whose team was coming off a 70-54 loss to Kinston on Friday evening. "The thing I really like was at halftime we talked about how we're letting them stay in the game. You have to kill a wounded animal or he'll come back to bite you, and that's what we did in the second half, we came out with that attitude knowing we had to put them away."

After a sluggish first half, Goldsboro led 26-22 thanks to a strong defensive effort.

Daquan Joyner spearheaded the effort with a dominating performance in the paint. Joyner altered countless shots and made life tough inside for New Bern.

"He only had six points, but he had like nine or 10 rebounds and just did a great job defensively," Jordan said. "You don't always have to score to be a leader."

In the third quarter, New Bern found life by pounding the offensive glass for second-chance opportunities. An 8-2 run pulled the Bears to within 32-30 with 5:03 to play in the period.

"We were not boxing out and just watching the flight of the ball instead of getting the butt in the gut, then going for the ball," said Jordan.

After a three-point play by Kornegay, Jordan inserted five subs for his starters to try and get some life from his Cougars.

The strategy paid off as Goldsboro built its lead to eight before the starters reentered.

Goldsboro then stepped on the throat of New Bern in the fourth-quarter.

The Cougars outscored the Bears 15-8 over the first six minutes of the period to build their largest lead of the night at 63-48.

Despite missing five straight free throws in the final minute, Goldsboro was able to even their record at 1-1 on the young season and took a step forward.

"It wasn't pretty, but that's our second time out we'll get better," said Jordan.

Notes

Goldsboro 14 12 22 19 -- 67

New Bern 8 14 18 17 -- 57

Goldsboro (1-1)

Tim Kornegay 7 1 1-3 18, Jameson Wellington 3 1 0-2 9, Tremé Boone 2 0 2-4 6, Tim Hobbs 2 0 2-2 6, Daquan Joyner 0 2 0-2 6, Eric McLean 0 2 0-0 6, Antonio Green 1 0 3-4 5, Kevonta McDuffie 2 0 0-0 4, Burnie Best 1 0 1-2 3, Jamar Branch 1 0 1-2 3. TOTALS -- 19 6 11-25 67

New Bern (2-2)

Bobby McLawhorn 7 0 6-11 20, Nathan Healy 8 0 2-2 18, Patrick Raynor 6 0 1-2 13, Julian Carter 1 0 1-2 3, Phillip Davis 1 0 0-0 2, Carlos Lassiter 0 0 0-1 1. TOTALS -- 23 0 11-19 57