Rosewood boys fend off North Johnston

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 9, 2010 1:47 PM

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A fourth-quarter surge kept Rosewood unbeaten on the varsity boys' basketball scene this season, but the outcome concerned seventh-year head coach Daniel Mitchell.

The Eagles (5-0 overall) appeared over- confident in the opening quarter, endured a third-quarter offensive lull and struggled with execution in the low-scoring, non-conference affair.

Despite the distressing effort, Jacquez Raynor collected a game-high 14 points in the 42-33 victory. Rosewood continued its best start during Mitchell's tenure on the bench, while North Johnston (2-4) suffered its fourth consecutive defeat.

"I didn't think we played very well and I thought North Johnston gave a good effort, but we had some careless turnovers," said Mitchell. "Our press looked poor, to get beat in transition as many times as we did, especially in the first half, I just thought it was a lackadaisical effort.

"We did enough to hang on in the second half."

Rosewood built six-point leads in the first three quarters, only to see North Johnston pull within a single possession each time. Jyonte Raynor's steal and layup attempt drew an intentional foul, but he hit just one free throw with 16.3 seconds left in the third period.

Cody Harris' 3-pointer bounced off the rim as time expired, which gave the Eagles a slim, 27-24 advantage.

Rosewood scored the first six points of the final quarter on baskets from Jyhkia Applewhite and Raynor. Midway through the period, the Panthers forced consecutive turnovers and feisty guard Wes Mangum fed layup-scoring assists to Trey Daniels and Charles Sanders.

Mitchell burned a timeout, calmed his team down and the Eagles held on.

Raynor and Applewhite combined to hit four free throws within a 38-second span to seal the outcome. Applewhite logged four points along with Garrett Burns and Zach Thornton. Jyonte Raynor and Antonio Henriques supplied five points apiece.

"We did well enough," said Mitchell. "We've got to be able to execute a little better offensively and not turn the ball over, find a way to get some more points on the board."