BOYS' BASKETBALL: James Kenan upends Spring Creek

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 8, 2017 9:57 AM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek played out of character, panicked and lost its poise early against James Kenan on Tuesday evening.

The little details head coach Taylor Jones preaches daily in practice surfaced early and often.

Boxing out on the boards.

Limiting offensive rebounds.

Denying the entry pass into the lane.

"Rebounding was a problem," Jones said after the 76-62 loss, which allowed the Tigers to climb into a first-place tie with the Gators at 11-2 in Carolina 1-A Conference play.

"We got so scattered on defense, trying to make sure we matched up and doing the things we needed to do. (We got) in some bad rotations and that really hurts you on box-outs, too."

Especially after SC made an inspired run midway through the third quarter.

Najee Young buried one of his game-high five 3-pointers and Tahj Edwards converted an old-fashioned three-point play which helped the Gators shave a 42-29 deficit to 47-39.

Within the blink of an eye, the Tigers (14-4 overall) drained four consecutive shots from the floor and seized a 61-46 advantage after three quarters.

The lead ballooned past the 20-point mark for a majority of the final quarter. Jamerion Dawson and Young each attempted to start another rally, but Kenan controlled the boards and flourished in its transition game.

"The ball bounces mysterious ways sometimes and we felt like the ball didn't bounce our way at all tonight, really," said Jones, whose team lost the rebounding battle 39-27 and committed 22 turnovers.

"They made a lot of plays. We could just never get rolling."

Young paced the Gators' offense with 15 points, while Dawson and Dominique Morse tallied 11 points apiece. Landon Smothers contributed four assists, five rebounds and a blocked shot.

Kamel Smith dropped in a game-high 27 points for the Tigers, who earned their 44th regular-season win in league play since 2014. Darryl McCaster supplied a double-double -- 17 points, 10 rebounds.

For the second time in the past three seasons, Spring Creek (16-6) and Kenan could share the league crown and possibly meet to decide the No. 1 playoff seed in the conference tournament. Jones refused to think that far ahead.

"We're just thinking about North Duplin right now," he said. "We've got to find a way on Thursday to regroup and show back up."