East Forsyth victorious in tug-of-war
(Above: East Forsyth’s Brandon Tate (23) takes the ball to the basket.)
Northwest Guilford and East Forsyth engaged in a tug-of-war that lasted for four quarters. This nail-biting contest, which was tied at least five times during the second half, was not decided until the final minutes.
When the dust finally settled, it was East Forsyth who came out on top with a 70-66 victory in junior varsity basketball on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Coming down the stretch, the Eagles hit enough free throws and at critical times, played well enough defensively, to notch their seventh win in a row.
“On defense, we were lazy at times and we gave up far too many easy baskets on back-door cuts,” said Coach Rodney Minor of East Forsyth. “But when it came right down to it, everybody pulled together and grinded it out. Even though they faced some adversity, they showed a lot of resiliency and mental toughness.”
East Forsyth (12-4, 4-0 Piedmont Triad Conference) rallied from a five-point deficit to tie the game at 58 midway through the fourth quarter.
Devin Higgins came up with a steal at mid-court and scored on lay-up to put the
East Forsyth’s Chandler Brinson (24) defends on the perimeter against Kyle Sullivan of Northwest Guilford.
Eagles up by 2 points. Higgins stole another Northwest Guilford pass that led to points, which helped East Forsyth extend its lead to 62-58 with 3:11 to go.
“Once we got that four-point lead, we never let up,” said Minor. “That was the critical difference. Plus, we’ve cut our rotation down to eight players and our guys responded very well to that.”
Visiting Northwest Guilford refused to wilt under pressure on the Eagles home court. Chris Alley hit a pair of free throws to cut the East lead to 65-63.
But Sherrod Wells converted a foul shot and Curtis Coleman made a pin-point pass to Darius Goolsby on a fast-break lay-up to push the lead to 68-63 with 1:05 remaining.
The Vikings derailed their chances for victory when they missed four consecutive foul shots with less than a minute left to play. Wesley Barham hit a 3-pointer from the top of the trim the East margin to 69-66, but it wasn’t enough to complete a comeback.
Connor Sparrow and Higgins shared team-high scoring honors for the Eagles with 17 points apiece. Sparrow sat on the bench for long stretches in the second half due to foul trouble.
In Sparrow’s absence, Higgins and Goolsby provided what East needed at both ends of the floor. Goolsby finished 16 points, most of those coming on put-backs in the decisive fourth quarter. Josh Mahaffey contributed 10 points.
“Darius came off the bench and gave us plenty of energy,” said Minor. “He defended, rebounded and scored when the opportunity presented itself. Devin came through with two key steals that gave us a spark when we really needed it. It’s good to see that our players are beginning to understand the message we’ve been preaching all season. It’s not about who starts the game, it’s about being ready when your number is called.”
For Northwest Guilford (14-4, 3-2), Thomas Smith led the scoring with a game-high 24 points. Tyler Young chipped in with 12 points.
“Give Northwest Guilford a lot of credit,” said Minor. “They made it tough on us and their zone caused problems. But once we started feeding the ball to high post, good things started to happen.”
