TARBORO —
KINSTON – Cold second half shooting turned out to be the downfall for the SouthWest Edgecombe Cougars Wednesday night against the state's top ranked 2-A Kinston Vikings. The Cougars were fired up and ready to play in the semifinals against the Vikings. They played with a lot of poise and determination, but their poor shooting second half caused them to lose 65-42.
First-year head coach Anthony Burns was very pleased with his team’s performance and said minus the poor shooting in the second half, his team played right with Kinston.
"When you go cold from the floor you aren't going to last long against a team like Kinston," Burns said. "I told them to come out and play their hardest and not have any fear and they would be alright. They responded and made it a good game."
Burns didn't know what to expect coming into the game, because Kinston had blown the Cougars out their previous two games this season. He knew what Kinston could do and gave his team the game plan and they executed to near perfection in the first half. But the second half became the problem.
"I am very impressed with the way we played all around tonight," Burns said. "I am proud of them because they should lots of maturity. They came together as a family and they came out and just played the game like I knew we were capable of playing."
The Cougars hung right with the Vikings in the first half behind some tough nose defense and good ball control on the offensive end of the floor.
Anthony Coley and Javine Hinton have been the Cougars floor generals all season and showed why early on. Coley and Hinton both showed a lot of poise and made some good shot selections and scored off of several offensive rebounds. Coley finished with 13 and Hinton added 12. The two seniors combined with grabbing 24 rebounds.
After trailing 12-4 in the first quarter with 5:02 to play, Burns called a timeout after Kinston had put together a 6-0 run. After the timeout the Cougars came back on the floor with what seemed to be fire in their eyes. They began to flow offensively and moved the ball around and found good shots. Fabrion Bandy added four in the game. He two free throws after the timeout and then grabbed an offensive rebound on the next possession and feed Coley with a good pass to score. Bandy hit a jumper and Kinston connected back to back on possessions and led 15-11 after one quarter of action.
The second half went the Cougars way the majority of the time, but Kinston sophomore Brandon Ingram went to work. He hit two big three pointers early on and made two big lay-ups, but the Cougars didn't give in. Hinton and Coley kept working the boards and feed their teammates off of rebounds and found a way to stay in the game. SouthWest trailed 29-23 at the half.
"We didn't have any pressure on us to start the game and we played with focus," Burns said. "We played a great first half and hit the boards like we should have."
Burns told his team to stay focused coming out of halftime and to continue to play at their pace.
Kinston had different ideas. They used the 6 foot 6 inch Ingram on the low post early in third quarter. He scored on four consecutive possessions and helped extend the Kinston lead.
SouthWest couldn't buy a basket in the third. They missed four lay-ups in the first three minutes of the quarter and shot poorly from the field. Kinston used the poor shooting to their advantage and went on two big runs in the quarter to put the game out of hand.
"They beat us in the second half like they have everyone else this season," Burns said. "They beat teams in all types of ways and they took advantage of our mistakes in the third quarter."
Burns said he and his team came in prepared for the worse, because he knows what type of damage Kinston can do when they get hot from the field. They showed it in the second half.
Kinston's head coach told Burns after the game that, that was one of the best games he has seen his team's opponents play all season. He was impressed with the way SouthWest kept their composer and played tough throughout the game.
SouthWest now has to sit and wait until Saturday to see if they get the luck of the draw when the NCHSAA 2-A brackets are announced. They are hoping with their 14-10 overall record, that they will get one of the two wild card spots in the east bracket and be able to make some noise in the playoffs.
"We will wait and see what happens Saturday," Burns said. "If we get a spot then we will show up and play."
Sports
Related Photos
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SouthWest Edgecombe Cougar Anthony Coley tries to find a way to drive around a Kinston Viking defender Wednesday night in Kinston during the Eastern Plains Conference tournament semifinal game. (Photo/Van Holland)
Cougars lose after second half struggle
ROLLING WITH IT
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Thorne tabbed Regional Player of the Year
Tarboro Lady Vikings forward Shayla Thorne is still learning about the game of soccer. She has turned into one of the best female soccer players in school history. Every time she takes the field she gets better and better, because of her hard work and the help of her teammates. Her hard work paid off for her during her junior year as she led the Vikings with a winning record, co-confoerence championship and into the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
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Cobb, Rhodes inducted in Cougars Hall of Fame
PINETOPS – The SouthWest Edgecombe Cougars athletic department inducted two legendary coaches into their Hall of Fame Monday night. Former football coach Raymond Cobb and former baseball coach Bruce Rhodes were the recipients of the awards.
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SWE Athletes of the Year
SouthWest Edgecombe Cougar Dawson Gould was named Female Athlete of the Year and Kenneth Plummer was named Male Athlete of the Year Monday night at the Cougars annual athletic awards banquet. Gould played volleyball, basketball and softball. Plummer played football, ran indoor and outdoor track.
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Pinetops 300
PINETOPS – With the threat of rain during the weekend, it put a little damper on the Pinetops 300 Tractor and Truck Pull attendance. Friday night there was a large crowd in attendance, but not the amount it has been the last several years. There was 500 less people in attendance Friday then there was a year ago, but it didn't stop the pullers from slinging mud everywhere. The fans in one section even had a chance to see what it looked like when a belt breaks on a fine tuned machine. During the Mini Modified run, Thomas Coleman, of Stoneville, had a belt break on his KB 526 Pure Hell ride and the belt slung into the crowd. No one was injured.
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Vikings, Cougars compete in 2-A state meet
The Tarboro Vikings and SouthWest Edgecombe Cougars had six girls apiece competing in the NCHSAA 2-A state track meet in Greensboro Friday at North Carolina A&T State University.
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Six Tarboro girls to compete in track finals
Motivation is a big part of the Tarboro Viking girl's track team's success this season. They enjoy working hard during practice for their coach Rickie Dozier and get fulfillment when they compete in events. Friday will be no different for the six girls that are headed to Greensboro to compete in the NCHSAA 2-A state championship meet at North Carolina A&T State University. They will compete in three relay events and the long jump.
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BIG FISH
Camden Grant and her boyfriend Ricky Davis, Jr. caught a 10 pound carp at a state wildlife pond Wednesday morning off of Highway 33 just outside of Tarboro. Grant said she caught the fish on a piece of shrimp around 10:30 a.m.
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Vikings ousted from playoffs by Jaguars
CARRBORO – After defeating the No. 1 seed in the playoffs Friday, the Tarboro Vikings forgot one thing, they had to hit the ball again Tuesday against the Carrboro Jaguars or their season would be over.
Tarboro failed to be productive at the plate and were eliminated from the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs after losing 8-0 in the second round. Tarboro never gave in after getting down early, but they just couldn't catch a break offensively and get anything going after trailing by five runs after the second inning. -
Cougars finish 7th in state golf match
The SouthWest Edgecombe Cougars went through the regionals and won by four strokes. They just couldn't get it going in the state golf championships Monday or Tuesday at Longleaf Golf and Country Club in Southern Pines. The Cougars finished seventh as a team after shooting 658 over the two day period.
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Vikings advance to second round after defeating Bunn
BUNN – The Tarboro Vikings brought their "A" game and some lively bats with them Friday night when they defeated the Bunn Wildcats 7-5 in the first round of the 2-A NCHSAA state baseball playoffs. The last time the Vikings won a playoff game it was at the same location five years ago.
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