Jan 19, 2008
Rivalry Friday
| West Henderson's Kevin Thomas tries to get around East Henderson's Chris McClure. MIKE DIRKS/TIMES-NEWS |  |
By Jeremy Trantham
Times-News Staff Writer
EAST FLAT ROCK -- West Henderson High School boys basketball coach Rob Bliss felt Friday's game was a must win. Four Falcons scored in double figures, led by 19 from senior Zach Corliss, in a 59-49 victory at rival East Henderson. The win puts West (7-8, 1-1 WAC) at .500 in the league."We've been on a rollercoaster most of the season," Bliss said. "We challenged the kids to make a decision which way we were going to go. East was 1-1 in the league with a win over North. We came in 0-1 in the conference and felt like this was a game we had to have."The Falcons responded to Bliss' challenge early, building a 23-11 lead with three minutes to play in the second quarter. East's Nathan Roberts canned three 3-pointers before halftime to keep the Eagles close."We were lucky to be in the game in the first half," East coach John Johnston said. "At the same time I don't think our posts touched the ball more than two times all night. We've got to find a better balance between our posts and the perimeter to be successful.""I told the kids at halftime, we defended well, had only four turnovers and rebounded well," said Bliss. "They just shot the lights out of it."West had no problems with balancing its attack. Daniel Hyatt scored 12 points, Buddy Hutchinson had 11 and Dallas Ducote added 10."We did a good job of making the extra pass. That's where we've run into trouble against pressure. We were too concerned with getting the ball back in Zach's hands I think. We worked real hard the last week on trusting yourself and trusting your teammates."Roberts (19 points) hit his sixth 3 of the game to cut West's lead to three with 4:31 to play. West responded with a 6-0 run over the next three minutes to pull away."Bottom line: Us and West are very similar except for a few different parts," Johnstson said. "We knew tonight was going to be about execution and they executed a few more times than we did."Michael Robinson scored 14 points for East before fouling out with 2:35 to play, leaving the Eagles without their point guard. The Eagles fall to 4-11 and 1-2 in the WAC.In the opening girls game, Krysti Fisher helped the Lady Eagles collect their first conference win of the season, 42-39 in overtime.Behind intense pressure defense keyed by Joy Brown, the Lady Falcons came back from a six-point fourth-quarter deficit. Brown hit a pair of free throws to give West a 34-31 lead with under nine seconds to play. Fisher got the ball, pulled up from the top of the key and canned a 3 to send the game to overtime."That was just get it down court, get a 3. I'd like to say I (drew up the play), but that was all them," said East coach Katie Easler. "They're a great group of girls."Brown's bucket with 1:53 remaining in overtime gave her team a 39-37 lead, but it would prove to be West's last basket of the game. Terran McCrary's layup with 50 seconds remaining gave East (4-12, 1-2) the lead for good."(Brown) had had great pressure on the ball and pressure is one of our problems," Easler said. "We did a better job at the end. We came down and ran our plays pretty well."Fisher led East with 17 points while Jessica Case (10 points, 10 rebounds) collected a double-double. Brown scored eight of her team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter for West (2-12, 0-2).West will host Smoky Mountain on Tuesday while East will travel to Pisgah.SummariesBOYS
WEST HENDERSON (59) -- Roberts 2, Thelan, James 4, Troutman, Corliss 19, Isgett, Barbour, Staggs, Thomas, Hutchinson 11, Ducote 10, Hyatt 12.EAST HENDERSON (49) -- Dorn, Hill 9, Roberts 19, Justus 2, Robinson 14, McClure 2, Whiteside 1, Ford 2, Dermitt.Halftime: West, 30-25.GIRLS
WEST HENDERSON (39) -- Kremer 4, Cantrell 2, Turlington 2, Combs 4, Brown 12, Fennell 5, Rogers 5, Dinardo, Springer.EAST HENDERSON (42) -- Crook 8, Fisher 17, McCrary 5, Idres 2, Johnson, Case 10, Kitchen.Halftime: West, 16-15.
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