A boost of confidence
Cyclones hit boards, crush Cresset Christian 76-46 for first win
By Randy JonesStaff Writer WILSON DAILY TIMES
So far this season, the Community Christian School boys basketball team has run into teams that just have too many horses for the inexperienced squad to compete with.
On Monday night inside the Barney Williamson Gym on the campus of the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf, the Cyclones only had one stallion to deal with.
Cresset Christian Academy guard Greg Guthrie had 27 points and 28 rebounds, but he simply wasn’t enough as CCS cruised to a 76-46 victory — its first in five tries. The Cyclones are 1-2 in 1-A Carolina Christian Conference play, while the Eagles dropped to 0-6 overall and 0-4 in the CCC.
"It was nice to play a team on our level,” CCS first-year head coach Ronnie Wells said. "We played pretty well on defense, but it helped that they only had one very good player. We didn’t do a good job stopping his dribble driving. However, we did a good job on the boards; they followed well.”
The Cyclones had a total of 59 rebounds, of which 30 were off the offensive glass.
Leading the way was eighth-grader Michael Piccolo with 10 boards, while senior Bryson Barefoot had nine and junior Davis Stone had eight.
"We played very well defensively and didn’t give up a lot of easy shots,” said Stone, who had one of CCS’ four blocked shots as it held Cresset to just 14-of-70 shooting from the field. "We did a good job getting out on the ball and boxed out when they took shots.”
The Cyclones scored the first eight points of the game as Stone sank an offensive putback for the game’s first points and junior guard Grant Webb and junior forward Michael Haney drained back-to-back 3-pointers.
Cresset, however, didn’t wilt early cutting the lead to 11-9 as Guthrie came off the bench after not starting to score eight straight points.
CCS scored the final five points of the first quarter and the first bucket of the second quarter to make it 18-9 with 7:43 on the clock.
Cresset got as close as 20-13 when Guthrie sank a layup with 6:54 left, but a 22-7 run by the Cyclones the rest of the quarter — sparked by eight of his team-high 21 points by sophomore guard Rieshod Barnes — allowed them to pull away.
Barnes said a first victory will do wonders for the team’s psyche.
"This win was very important for us,” Barnes said. "It just will increase our confidence going into Thursday night’s game at Pope John Paul II. We need to go into that game with the same intensity we had tonight.”
Both Barnes and Wells stressed that finding a way to compensate for some of the athleticism the Cyclones will face down the road will go a long way in making them more competitive.
"Length-wise, every team we played before tonight has been very tough,” Barnes said. "And traps and us being able to break them. ... Tonight, we let (Guthrie) get too many easy shots. Thankfully, we played well enough for it not to matter.”
Wells is hopeful the boost of confidence a victory gives will get the team on a bit of a forward roll.
"The main thing I’ve asked of the guys with the schedule we have is to not hang your heads, to not give in,” Wells said. "And they have not. This kind of win will make them want to come into the gym even more. The effort has been there, we’ve just been a bit overwhelmed.”
After a first score by Eagles guard Jared Stola to open the third quarter, CCS went on a 10-1 run that effectively ended any thoughts of a comeback by the visitors as the Cyclones took their first 30-point lead at 53-23 with 5:31 left.
With reserves doing much of the damage, the Cyclones took their biggest lead of the night at 71-37 in the fourth quarter when sophomore guard Bryson Scott sank a layup off a steal with 5:21 to go.
Wells said he was happy the team didn’t go into bad habits as the game progressed, something which can happen in blowout victories.
"For the most part, we continued to play well,” he said. "We had a few mistakes, but I was pleased with the way we competed to the end.”
The biggest crowd reaction came when junior Zyyayre Williams hit a free throw with 1:02 remaining for his only point.
CCS will play Pope John Paul II Catholic School in Greenville on Thursday before taking on Northwood Temple on Friday.
"The schedule doesn’t get any easier,” Wells said.
Cyclones hit boards, crush Cresset Christian 76-46 for first win
By Randy JonesStaff Writer WILSON DAILY TIMES
So far this season, the Community Christian School boys basketball team has run into teams that just have too many horses for the inexperienced squad to compete with.
On Monday night inside the Barney Williamson Gym on the campus of the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf, the Cyclones only had one stallion to deal with.
Cresset Christian Academy guard Greg Guthrie had 27 points and 28 rebounds, but he simply wasn’t enough as CCS cruised to a 76-46 victory — its first in five tries. The Cyclones are 1-2 in 1-A Carolina Christian Conference play, while the Eagles dropped to 0-6 overall and 0-4 in the CCC.
"It was nice to play a team on our level,” CCS first-year head coach Ronnie Wells said. "We played pretty well on defense, but it helped that they only had one very good player. We didn’t do a good job stopping his dribble driving. However, we did a good job on the boards; they followed well.”
The Cyclones had a total of 59 rebounds, of which 30 were off the offensive glass.
Leading the way was eighth-grader Michael Piccolo with 10 boards, while senior Bryson Barefoot had nine and junior Davis Stone had eight.
"We played very well defensively and didn’t give up a lot of easy shots,” said Stone, who had one of CCS’ four blocked shots as it held Cresset to just 14-of-70 shooting from the field. "We did a good job getting out on the ball and boxed out when they took shots.”
The Cyclones scored the first eight points of the game as Stone sank an offensive putback for the game’s first points and junior guard Grant Webb and junior forward Michael Haney drained back-to-back 3-pointers.
Cresset, however, didn’t wilt early cutting the lead to 11-9 as Guthrie came off the bench after not starting to score eight straight points.
CCS scored the final five points of the first quarter and the first bucket of the second quarter to make it 18-9 with 7:43 on the clock.
Cresset got as close as 20-13 when Guthrie sank a layup with 6:54 left, but a 22-7 run by the Cyclones the rest of the quarter — sparked by eight of his team-high 21 points by sophomore guard Rieshod Barnes — allowed them to pull away.
Barnes said a first victory will do wonders for the team’s psyche.
"This win was very important for us,” Barnes said. "It just will increase our confidence going into Thursday night’s game at Pope John Paul II. We need to go into that game with the same intensity we had tonight.”
Both Barnes and Wells stressed that finding a way to compensate for some of the athleticism the Cyclones will face down the road will go a long way in making them more competitive.
"Length-wise, every team we played before tonight has been very tough,” Barnes said. "And traps and us being able to break them. ... Tonight, we let (Guthrie) get too many easy shots. Thankfully, we played well enough for it not to matter.”
Wells is hopeful the boost of confidence a victory gives will get the team on a bit of a forward roll.
"The main thing I’ve asked of the guys with the schedule we have is to not hang your heads, to not give in,” Wells said. "And they have not. This kind of win will make them want to come into the gym even more. The effort has been there, we’ve just been a bit overwhelmed.”
After a first score by Eagles guard Jared Stola to open the third quarter, CCS went on a 10-1 run that effectively ended any thoughts of a comeback by the visitors as the Cyclones took their first 30-point lead at 53-23 with 5:31 left.
With reserves doing much of the damage, the Cyclones took their biggest lead of the night at 71-37 in the fourth quarter when sophomore guard Bryson Scott sank a layup off a steal with 5:21 to go.
Wells said he was happy the team didn’t go into bad habits as the game progressed, something which can happen in blowout victories.
"For the most part, we continued to play well,” he said. "We had a few mistakes, but I was pleased with the way we competed to the end.”
The biggest crowd reaction came when junior Zyyayre Williams hit a free throw with 1:02 remaining for his only point.
CCS will play Pope John Paul II Catholic School in Greenville on Thursday before taking on Northwood Temple on Friday.
"The schedule doesn’t get any easier,” Wells said.
