Knights win smart
White scores 40, but heady play by Taylor clinches 90-87 win over St. David's in Greenfield Christmas Tournament semifinals
By Randy JonesStaff Writer WILSON DAILY TIMES
Basketball IQ is one of those clichés that get bandied about quite a lot by coaches.
And while Greenfield School sophomore guard Coby White and St. David’s School guard Kris Monroe were putting on a show during Tuesday night’s semifinal game of the Greenfield Christmas Tournament, it was the hoops intelligence of Knights’ senior guard Luke Taylor that helped clinch a 90-87 victory.
Warriors’ guard Ben Brown canned a 3-pointer from the right corner with 8.3 seconds remaining to cut Greenfield’s lead to three points, but Taylor was in no hurry to get the ball back in play.
The 6-foot, 150-pounder slowly ambled over to the bouncing ball, finally grabbing it with a little more than 5 seconds left. He promptly held the ball at his waist and shook his head "no” as he wasn’t going to in-bound it.
Finally, the St. David’s players caught on and called a timeout with 1 second remaining.
On the restart, White threw the ball to Taylor, who whirled away from his defender as the buzzer sounded to put the host Knights (9-6) into Wednesday night’s championship game. Greenfield will take on Concord First Assembly (9-2), which defeated Raleigh Neuse Christian 95-64 to advance, at 7:30 as it looks to win its tournament for the first time since 2011.
"Yeah, it was on purpose,” said Taylor, who finished with a game-high 10 assists and seven points. "I wasn’t in any rush to take it out. I knew it would take however long to get to the ball, then I had five more seconds to play the ball in. So, I didn’t need to.”
Greenfield head coach Rob Salter was all smiles when asked about the non-play.
"We talked about it in the huddle (during a timeout with 1:28 to go),” he said. "I told them to simply take their time. Don’t rush anything. And he did just that. He took his time. Luke is such a smart player, with a high basketball IQ. It was a smart play at the end of a very good high school basketball game.”
St. David’s head coach Will Coley wouldn’t go so far as to compliment what Taylor did in the final seconds, but certainly gave props to the Knights.
"Greenfield did what it needed to do to win,” he said. "They made every play they needed to make. You’ve got to give them credit. I thought we had them worn down, but they hung in there and found a second wind.”
It looked like the game would come down to whoever could stop White or Monroe.
The 6-7 St. David’s guard came out on fire, draining his first six shots — including four 3-pointers — in the first quarter.
However, White and teammate Dorieon Suggs kept it close.
Suggs scored nine of the first 10 points for Greenfield as they led 10-8 with 5:16 left in the opening quarter, however Monroe sank a trey to give his team the lead.
The lead exchanged hands two more times before White scored five straight — on his way to a game-high 40 — to make it 21-18 Knights with 1:52 to go. Monroe and teammate Robbie O’Han then scored the last 10 points of the quarter to push the Warriors up 26-21.
St. David’s kept the lead for most of the second quarter and took a slim 43-39 lead at the halftime break.
Greenfield bolted out to a 12-3 run out of the locker rooms to lead 51-46 with 6:17 left in the third, but the Warriors’ long-range shooting took allowed St. David’s to take the lead back at 57-56 on a trey by O’Han, who finished with 21 points.
Suggs, who had 27 points and 10 rebounds, swished a 3 on the other end to put the Knights back up, but a 7-3 end to the quarter put the Warriors up 64-62 to set up a mad dash to the finish in the fourth.
St. David’s pushed the intensity to start the final quarter, taking a 73-66 lead on back-to-back layups by Monroe, who finished with 36 points and 13 rebounds.
White hit a layup and after a timeout by Greenfield, got a rebound and pushed a fast break that saw Taylor find his twin brother, Jake, on the wing for a trey to make it 73-71.
White then stripped the ball and went coast-to-cast with a two-handed slam to tie it at 73 with 4:23 to go.
"Coby White spearheaded everything for Greenfield,” Coley said. "He is so hard to handle, hard to stay in front of. He’s a difference maker and means so much to them.”
After the Warriors went up by a point after a free throw by O’Han, once again Luke Taylor found Jake in the corner for another trey top ut Greenfield up for good at 76-74 with 3:38 on the clock.
The 3-pointer came after Jake Taylor had grabbed a rebound away from the seven inches taller Monroe, kicked to his brother, who threw it right back for the shot. Jake Taylor would score 16 points with four 3-pointers.
"We’ve been playing so long together, we know where each other are always going to be,” said Luke. "That rebound kind of turned the tides of the game, especially after he hit that shot.”
St. David’s cut the gap to 77-76 on a layup by Brown with 2:43 to go, but Luke Taylor would drive to the basket and score on an up-and-under scoop past two defenders for his only basket of the game 16 seconds later.
After a held ball call gave the ball back to Greenfield, the Warriors pressed with impunity and forced three Knights’ timeouts over the next 27 seconds. The final coming with 88 seconds left that Salter had to call himself.
White would score on a layup on the ensuing possession, then got another layup on a fast break after a miss by Monroe on the other end to make it 83-76 with 1:01 left.
Greenfield made 7 of 8 at the line to keep the lead manageable, with the score being 90-84, including 6 of 6 by the Taylor brothers, with 15.7 seconds to go.
"I challenged them,” Salter said. "I didn’t think Jake and Luke played all that well for a lot of the game. But down the stretch, they both showed why I have so much confidence in them.”
rjones@wilsontimes.com | 265-8117 | Twitter: @RandyJonesWT
White scores 40, but heady play by Taylor clinches 90-87 win over St. David's in Greenfield Christmas Tournament semifinals
By Randy JonesStaff Writer WILSON DAILY TIMES
Basketball IQ is one of those clichés that get bandied about quite a lot by coaches.
And while Greenfield School sophomore guard Coby White and St. David’s School guard Kris Monroe were putting on a show during Tuesday night’s semifinal game of the Greenfield Christmas Tournament, it was the hoops intelligence of Knights’ senior guard Luke Taylor that helped clinch a 90-87 victory.
Warriors’ guard Ben Brown canned a 3-pointer from the right corner with 8.3 seconds remaining to cut Greenfield’s lead to three points, but Taylor was in no hurry to get the ball back in play.
The 6-foot, 150-pounder slowly ambled over to the bouncing ball, finally grabbing it with a little more than 5 seconds left. He promptly held the ball at his waist and shook his head "no” as he wasn’t going to in-bound it.
Finally, the St. David’s players caught on and called a timeout with 1 second remaining.
On the restart, White threw the ball to Taylor, who whirled away from his defender as the buzzer sounded to put the host Knights (9-6) into Wednesday night’s championship game. Greenfield will take on Concord First Assembly (9-2), which defeated Raleigh Neuse Christian 95-64 to advance, at 7:30 as it looks to win its tournament for the first time since 2011.
"Yeah, it was on purpose,” said Taylor, who finished with a game-high 10 assists and seven points. "I wasn’t in any rush to take it out. I knew it would take however long to get to the ball, then I had five more seconds to play the ball in. So, I didn’t need to.”
Greenfield head coach Rob Salter was all smiles when asked about the non-play.
"We talked about it in the huddle (during a timeout with 1:28 to go),” he said. "I told them to simply take their time. Don’t rush anything. And he did just that. He took his time. Luke is such a smart player, with a high basketball IQ. It was a smart play at the end of a very good high school basketball game.”
St. David’s head coach Will Coley wouldn’t go so far as to compliment what Taylor did in the final seconds, but certainly gave props to the Knights.
"Greenfield did what it needed to do to win,” he said. "They made every play they needed to make. You’ve got to give them credit. I thought we had them worn down, but they hung in there and found a second wind.”
It looked like the game would come down to whoever could stop White or Monroe.
The 6-7 St. David’s guard came out on fire, draining his first six shots — including four 3-pointers — in the first quarter.
However, White and teammate Dorieon Suggs kept it close.
Suggs scored nine of the first 10 points for Greenfield as they led 10-8 with 5:16 left in the opening quarter, however Monroe sank a trey to give his team the lead.
The lead exchanged hands two more times before White scored five straight — on his way to a game-high 40 — to make it 21-18 Knights with 1:52 to go. Monroe and teammate Robbie O’Han then scored the last 10 points of the quarter to push the Warriors up 26-21.
St. David’s kept the lead for most of the second quarter and took a slim 43-39 lead at the halftime break.
Greenfield bolted out to a 12-3 run out of the locker rooms to lead 51-46 with 6:17 left in the third, but the Warriors’ long-range shooting took allowed St. David’s to take the lead back at 57-56 on a trey by O’Han, who finished with 21 points.
Suggs, who had 27 points and 10 rebounds, swished a 3 on the other end to put the Knights back up, but a 7-3 end to the quarter put the Warriors up 64-62 to set up a mad dash to the finish in the fourth.
St. David’s pushed the intensity to start the final quarter, taking a 73-66 lead on back-to-back layups by Monroe, who finished with 36 points and 13 rebounds.
White hit a layup and after a timeout by Greenfield, got a rebound and pushed a fast break that saw Taylor find his twin brother, Jake, on the wing for a trey to make it 73-71.
White then stripped the ball and went coast-to-cast with a two-handed slam to tie it at 73 with 4:23 to go.
"Coby White spearheaded everything for Greenfield,” Coley said. "He is so hard to handle, hard to stay in front of. He’s a difference maker and means so much to them.”
After the Warriors went up by a point after a free throw by O’Han, once again Luke Taylor found Jake in the corner for another trey top ut Greenfield up for good at 76-74 with 3:38 on the clock.
The 3-pointer came after Jake Taylor had grabbed a rebound away from the seven inches taller Monroe, kicked to his brother, who threw it right back for the shot. Jake Taylor would score 16 points with four 3-pointers.
"We’ve been playing so long together, we know where each other are always going to be,” said Luke. "That rebound kind of turned the tides of the game, especially after he hit that shot.”
St. David’s cut the gap to 77-76 on a layup by Brown with 2:43 to go, but Luke Taylor would drive to the basket and score on an up-and-under scoop past two defenders for his only basket of the game 16 seconds later.
After a held ball call gave the ball back to Greenfield, the Warriors pressed with impunity and forced three Knights’ timeouts over the next 27 seconds. The final coming with 88 seconds left that Salter had to call himself.
White would score on a layup on the ensuing possession, then got another layup on a fast break after a miss by Monroe on the other end to make it 83-76 with 1:01 left.
Greenfield made 7 of 8 at the line to keep the lead manageable, with the score being 90-84, including 6 of 6 by the Taylor brothers, with 15.7 seconds to go.
"I challenged them,” Salter said. "I didn’t think Jake and Luke played all that well for a lot of the game. But down the stretch, they both showed why I have so much confidence in them.”
rjones@wilsontimes.com | 265-8117 | Twitter: @RandyJonesWT
