Golden Falcons' fourth-quarter discipline pays off with win

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on January 21, 2015 1:48 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- It was only a matter of time, really.

Charles B. Aycock's basketball team had been on the wrong end of too many close games this season, and head coach Dave Elmore could feel the frustration building.

The light at the end of the tunnel may be growing larger, however, for the Golden Falcons. Bryce Jordan led four starters in double figures with 14 points in a 62-51, non-conference victory over Smithfield-Selma on Tuesday evening.

Cameron Kornegay added 11 points, while Ian Best and Keyshawn Cobb each scored 10.

Coming off a one-point win over Eastern Wayne, the Golden Falcons (3-15 overall) showed the discipline and execution in the final quarter that had eluded them all season.

"They're playing with more confidence right now," Elmore said. "Late in this game, I really preached that we had to be efficient and patient, and make them work defensively."

With Aycock up by less than 10 points for most of the quarter, Smithfield went into a full-court press in the hopes of forcing a turnover. Instead, CBA broke the press with ease, moved the ball up court with crisp passes and created man advantages on the break.

"In times in the past we would have thrown the ball away, turned it over or fainted under pressure," Elmore said. "But we didn't. We made the right plays and I think we really burned them on the back end of it."

DJ Williams led the Spartans' scoring attack with 13 points. Smithfield was playing without its top scorer, Dequan White, who was suspended for violating team rules. The Spartans got key baskets when they needed to keep the game close, but their effort on the defensive end wasn't enough to ever make up ground.

"I thought our transition defense was terrible, bottom line," coach James Robinson said. "Nobody wanted to step up and stop the basketball. I thought we made a couple of their players look like all-stars because they would just get layups, and that comes down to effort. We did a terrible, terrible job."

Elmore credited his team's transition play.

"We haven't been great at it up until the last few games," he said. "It's been a work in progress. It's not that we haven't done it, it's that in the past when we have, we've made mistakes. Tonight, we took what they gave us and we efficiently got out in transition."

Aycock visits New Bern on Friday.