Stunning Upset – Glenn beats East Forsyth
Bryson Bell-St. John was the top scorer for the Bobcats with 21 points.
BY CRAIG T. GREEENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
By all accounts this has been a roller-coaster kind of season for Glenn in JV basketball. The Bobcats have struggled with consistency and at different times, they were either over or under the break-even point.
Glenn, however, found a way to shed its sporadic tendencies against cross-town rival East Forsyth last week. The feisty Bobcats came up with their best performance of the season in posting a 58-55 upset win over the Lash-Chronicle Tournament champs. And they did it on the road.
“This was our biggest win of the season,” said coach Richard Daniels, Jr. “East Forsyth is probably the best JV team in the county and they’re the best in our league (Piedmont Triad Conference). They play hard, they’re disciplined, and they listen to their coach. What helped us more than anything was that we matched their intensity for four quarters. We finally played a complete game.”
The backcourt tandem of Mike Bennett and Bryce Bell-St. John played significant roles for Glenn (7-8 overall, 4-3 PTC). Both hit timely shots in the second half and both were instrumental in helping the Bobcats successfully attack the Eagles’ full-court presses and traps. Bell-St. John scored a team-high 21 points, which included three 3-pointers. Bennett finished with 12 points.
“Those two gave us some strong guard play tonight,” said Daniels. “They came out and played big.”
The loss ended all hopes for East Forsyth to finish the season undefeated in conference play for the second year in a row. Coach Rodney Minor is confident that his team will regroup to make a strong run over the final week of the season.
“This was a tough one to lose,” said Minor, whose team dropped to 15-2 and 5-1 PTC. “We came out flat and we missed a ton of shots at the rim and from the free throw line. Glenn played a whale of a game from start to finish, and it was clear that they wanted it more. But even with all that went right for them, and all that went wrong for us, we still had our chances (to win).”
Glenn, which led 21-17 at the half, began to build momentum midway through the third quarter. Paul Carlton put the finishing touches on the Bobcats spurt by scoring on a short jumper right before the buzzer to put his team up 41-31 at the end of the third.
For the first half of the fourth quarter, it looked as if the Bobcats would end up winning by double figures. Even though Glenn led 48-35 with 4:32 left to play, the game was far from over. Tanis Samuels of the Eagles hit a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 51-41. Minutes later, Connor Sparrow scored on a put-back and Josh Mahaffey hit a pair of free throws to further close the gap to 51-47 with 1:30 remaining.
Glenn pushed its lead back to seven points (54-47) on its next possession when Elijah Scales hit a free throw after being fouled on a made basket. Carlton scored what proved to be the game-winner when he hit a rainbow floater on the left baseline with a minute left to give Glenn a 56-50 lead.
Bell-St.John added a couple of free throws with 23.9 seconds left, but East Forsyth still wasn’t done. Mahaffey scored off his own miss to make it a five-point game (58-53). The Eagles came up with a quick steal and Sparrow’s follow-up bas-ket made it a three-point game with .3 seconds to go.
Glenn sealed the victory by successfully inbounding the ball against East Forsyth’s intense defensive pressure.
“The and-1 (3-point play) by Elijah along with Paul’s score came at the right times,” said Daniels. “Those were plays that we really needed near the end of the game. But there’s still some season left and we’ll keep working. We have a chance to finish the season above .500, so that’s the main focus for us.”
Aside from Bell-St. John and Bennett, the Bobcats got strong offensive performances from Carlton and Scales, who contributed 10 points apiece.
For East Forsyth, Sparrow had an off-night shooting, but still ended up with a game-high 22 points. Mahaffey chipped in with nine points.
“As badly as we played, my guys showed some mental toughness,” said Minor. “We were down by 13 (points) in the fourth quarter and were able to cut their lead to four. Then, we go for the steal but miss, and then we give up a three-point play. Tonight, we just couldn’t get it done.”
