Shaky start to season for Cycs
Big third quarter by Northwood Temple sinks CCS boys
By Jack Frederick jfrederick@wilsontimes.com | 265-7824 | Twitter: @_jackfrederick
After rallying from a double-digit deficit to come within two points of Fayetteville Northwood Temple Academy at the half, a big third quarter sank the Community Christian varsity boys basketball team, 86-58, at Peace Church on Tuesday night.
“They came out wanting it more than us,” junior Andrew Gattis explained. “They came out with more energy, that was about it.”
After a low-scoring first quarter, the Cyclones, 1-A members of the split 1-A/2-A Coastal Independents Conference, responded in the second quarter to put up 24 points, which brought the team within striking distance at the half. The Cyclones trailed 35-33.
“We came back, we didn’t put our heads down,” first-year head coach Roland Loftin said after his second game coaching the program. “They came back fighting, which tells me a lot about our team. Basketball season is long, so when you see that type of thing, it gives you hope.”
The response could not save the team from what happened next, though.
Right out of halftime, Northwood Temple exploded offensively, going on a 15-5, then 16-0 run to, by the end of the quarter, match what Community Christian managed across the whole first half.
The Eagles’ JaQuantae Harris, who up until that point had a quiet four points, led the high-scoring run with 12 points in the third. Jay Hickman chipped in a trio of 3-pointers and Reggie Raynor added eight points to ensure the game was all but put away with one quarter remaining.
“In the third quarter, we kind of broke down and the game got away from us,“ Loftin said.
While the Eagles got hot shooting, the Cyclones endured a prolonged drought, putting up just 10 points that came on three field goals.
Jimmy Forte, who had a game-high 28 points, shot just 2 for 7 in the third quarter and scored five points. The rest of the team followed suit and the game fell out of the Cyclones’ reach early.
“I think we just had to get a breather because we’re short on numbers this year,” Forte said of the drought. “That’s all we had to do, we just had to get a breather real quick.”
Aside from the third quarter, Loftin said his team kept up well with a program that lost to Greenfield in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A state championship game last season.
“They got out in transition, which is what we really want to stop,” Loftin said. “They got out in transition and that really hurt us. We’ll go back to the drawing board because if you take that quarter away, we probably played them about even.”
NORTHWOOD TEMPLE (86)
Raynor 26, Harris 22, Hickman 24, Sepulveda 4, Bethel 4, Drier 3, Alford 3.
COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN (58)
Forte 28, Gattis 14, Piccolo 11, McFarland 5.
Score by quarters:
NWT 19 16 33 18 — 86
CCS 9 24 10 15 — 58
Big third quarter by Northwood Temple sinks CCS boys
By Jack Frederick jfrederick@wilsontimes.com | 265-7824 | Twitter: @_jackfrederick
After rallying from a double-digit deficit to come within two points of Fayetteville Northwood Temple Academy at the half, a big third quarter sank the Community Christian varsity boys basketball team, 86-58, at Peace Church on Tuesday night.
“They came out wanting it more than us,” junior Andrew Gattis explained. “They came out with more energy, that was about it.”
After a low-scoring first quarter, the Cyclones, 1-A members of the split 1-A/2-A Coastal Independents Conference, responded in the second quarter to put up 24 points, which brought the team within striking distance at the half. The Cyclones trailed 35-33.
“We came back, we didn’t put our heads down,” first-year head coach Roland Loftin said after his second game coaching the program. “They came back fighting, which tells me a lot about our team. Basketball season is long, so when you see that type of thing, it gives you hope.”
The response could not save the team from what happened next, though.
Right out of halftime, Northwood Temple exploded offensively, going on a 15-5, then 16-0 run to, by the end of the quarter, match what Community Christian managed across the whole first half.
The Eagles’ JaQuantae Harris, who up until that point had a quiet four points, led the high-scoring run with 12 points in the third. Jay Hickman chipped in a trio of 3-pointers and Reggie Raynor added eight points to ensure the game was all but put away with one quarter remaining.
“In the third quarter, we kind of broke down and the game got away from us,“ Loftin said.
While the Eagles got hot shooting, the Cyclones endured a prolonged drought, putting up just 10 points that came on three field goals.
Jimmy Forte, who had a game-high 28 points, shot just 2 for 7 in the third quarter and scored five points. The rest of the team followed suit and the game fell out of the Cyclones’ reach early.
“I think we just had to get a breather because we’re short on numbers this year,” Forte said of the drought. “That’s all we had to do, we just had to get a breather real quick.”
Aside from the third quarter, Loftin said his team kept up well with a program that lost to Greenfield in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A state championship game last season.
“They got out in transition, which is what we really want to stop,” Loftin said. “They got out in transition and that really hurt us. We’ll go back to the drawing board because if you take that quarter away, we probably played them about even.”
NORTHWOOD TEMPLE (86)
Raynor 26, Harris 22, Hickman 24, Sepulveda 4, Bethel 4, Drier 3, Alford 3.
COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN (58)
Forte 28, Gattis 14, Piccolo 11, McFarland 5.
Score by quarters:
NWT 19 16 33 18 — 86
CCS 9 24 10 15 — 58
