BOYS' BASKETBALL: Manning's move pays off

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on February 22, 2017 9:57 AM

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Eastern Wayne coach Bill Manning saw the mismatch.

He knew that his guards --Wesley Case, Yeonte Royal and Eric Agee -- could get to the basket against the Western Alamance defenders, and he knew that each could knock down shots when required.

The mismatch actually turned out to be bigger than he thought.

The three-headed monster of Case, Royal and Agee combined for 66 points, and paved the way for a 74-58 victory over Western Alamance in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A boys' basketball playoffs.

The Warriors will host Terry Sanford in a second-round contest Thursday. Tip-off is 7 p.m.

"I knew we had an advantage, mano-a-mano on the half court, when they were in a man defense," Manning said. "So I told them I was tired of messing with the zone, and we're going to pull it out and we're not going to do anything until they come out.

"And (Case, Royal and Agee) know how to attack the basket."

Agee began the charge in the first quarter. The senior scored nine points in the first eight minutes, and helped the Warriors surge to a 20-12 lead. EW extended its advantage to 31-14, but Western Alamance cut the lead to 34-28 by halftime.

When EW built its lead to 41-32, Western Alamance whittled the deficit to 49-47. After Western Alamance's second spurt, Manning had seen enough.

The first-year Warriors' coach said he went back to what worked, which was getting his guards inside the paint.

"I felt like we fell in love with the 3," Manning said. "...I made a little adjustment when we ran our spread. I pulled the man in the middle a little further out to try to give us bigger driving lanes because it felt like we had such an advantage."

The plan worked just like he drew it up.

Agee, Case and Royal scored 23 of EW's 25 points in the fourth quarter. The trio sought contact, drew fouls and shot a combined 24 free throws in the final period.

The three guards turned EW's two-point lead into a 72-54 cushion toward the end of the fourth stanza. Meanwhile, Western Alamance managed only 11 points in the final period.

Royal led the Warriors with 24 points, dished three assists and grabbed three rebounds. Agee recorded 23 points, six assists and 10 rebounds. Case registered 19 points and four rebounds.

Moving forward, Manning said that he would like to have balanced scoring so teams can't focus on one or two players. But he added that if he has two or three who are clear mismatches on the floor, then he's going to attack it all night.

"Wherever we feel like our mismatches are on the floor, I hope we're unselfish enough that we really don't care who scores the points," Manning said. "We just want the win and advance. That's all we really care about."