Southern Wayne ends Warriors season

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on February 13, 2007 2:38 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Russell Royal pleaded with his senior Anthony Vick to shoot at times season. When Vick has listened and trusted his ability, he has been effective as he was Monday night.

Vick knocked down five 3-pointers to help erase a 13-point Eastern Wayne advantage and led the Saints to a 64-59 win in the first round of the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference Tournament on Monday night.

The comeback came after a first half where Eastern Wayne thoroughly outplayed Southern Wayne.

A full-court press by the Warriors frustrated Southern Wayne into eight turnovers which turned into easy baskets for Eastern Wayne.

"We started out sluggish," said Southern Wayne coach Russell Royal. "Credit Eastern Wayne for playing aggressive defense."

University of Richmond signee Darryl Cowan scored 13 of his team-high 19 points during the first half to help the Warriors go up by as many as 13 points, before heading into the locker room with a 32-24 lead.

"Darryl played like a senior -- he wanted to win this ballgame," said Eastern Wayne coach Marvin Bowman. "He did everything I asked of him."

Southern Wayne regrouped at halftime and came out on fire to start the third quarter.

The Saints took their first lead of the night at 33-32 after four Warrior turnovers led to nine straight points.

Eastern Wayne answered back with a free throw from William White and a basket from Cowan to go back up by four.

Orlando Davis and Vick then ignited a run that eventually led to the demise of Eastern Wayne.

Davis and Vick drilled back-to-back 3-pointers which began a 14-1 run, giving Southern Wayne a suddenly commanding 47-38 lead.

"Those are two that I always say it's like a catch 22 -- you make them and it's a 14-1 run, you miss them and it could be just the opposite," said Royal. "If I'm going to have any two guys shooting it's going to be those two. They have the confidence to put them up and the team trusted them to knock them down."

With their season on the line, Eastern Wayne mounted a final rally trailing by nine with 2:40 to go.

A 3-pointer by Lamar Davis cut the lead to six and then Vick was called from a travel and technical for arguing the call, putting Davis at the line. Davis made one of two and on the Warriors' possession, Cowan missed a three.

Had the Warriors been successful at the line and on Cowan's shot, they would've trailed by just one, but instead, still trailed by five and never got any closer the rest of the night.

Free throws played a large role in the Warriors' loss as they made just 9 of 22 shots.

"That's uncharacteristic of us this year and it cost us tonight," Bowman said.

The Warriors, who finished their season 6-15 overall, got 13 points from Darius Wilder and nine points from both Darren Bennett and Davis.

Vick scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Saints (11-12). Davis chipped in with 17 and Kendrick Thompson added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Southern Wayne now advances to the second round of the ECC tournament where it will face Wilson Hunt at Wilson Beddingfield on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Eastern Wayne 18 14 6 21 -- 59

Southern Wayne 12 12 21 19 -- 64

EASTERN WAYNE (6-15)

Darryl Cowan 8 1 0-2 19, Darius Wilder 5 1 0-3 13, Lamar Davis 1 1 4-6 9, Darren Bennett 3 1 0-0 9, Jenieri Cyrus 1 0 3-6 5, William White 1 0 1-2 3, Dariyon Whisenhunt 0 0 1-3 1. TOTALS -- 19 4 9-22 59

SOUTHERN WAYNE (11-12)

Anthony Vick 0 5 4-6 19, Orlando Davis 3 2 5-6 17, Kendrick Thompson 6 0 1-3 13, Josh Darden 3 0 0-0 6, Paris Armwood 0 1 2-2 5, Adam Harrell 1 0 2-2 4. TOTALS -- 13 8 14-19 64.