What a cruel week of scheduling.
First, Smith had to play at arch-rival Dudley Tuesday night. The result, a one-point loss to the Panthers.
Then, without any preparation, the Golden Eagles hit the road Wednesday night for another conference game, at Western Guilford. In this one Smith prevailed, 50-40.
The weeek’s grand finale brought Winston-Salem Carver to BLS Gym Friday night. The Yellowjackets, fresh off a state 3-A championship in football, have a sub-.500 record. But it’s deceiving because Carver only played with eight cagers for the first month of the season. Getting their basketball legs back as the season turns toward the February stretch drive, the Yellowjackets were just a game back of Winston-Salem Parkland entering Friday night’s game at Smith. Carver can play some mean halfcourt defense when it wants to and did exactly that in the last four minutes against the Golden Eagles. CHS used a pivtoal 8-0 run down the stretch that included four steals that led to three baskets to produce a 56-51 road victory.
Thus, Smith (2-4 and 11-6) found itself in a precarious place at the halfway point of the conference campaign. The Golden Eagles are four games out of first place and three out of second with six to play. More importantly, the Eagles are tied with Kernersville Glenn for the fourth and last playoff spot in the league. In other words, Smith has very little room for error in its attempt to make the NCHSAA playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Smith girls, the pre-season conference favorite, ended a three-game losing streak that put them three games behind red-hot Glenn in the Piedmont Triad race. Smith (3-3, 12-4) got 18 points from senior Christy Graham to whip Carver 60-37.
On Friday night The Smith boys found themselves in what has become their own basketball version of the film “Groundhog Day.” The Golden Eagles play hard, gritty basketball, keep the game close and then see which way the winds of the basketball gods are blowing in the fourth quarter. It’s almost as maddening as listening to Sonny and Cher over and over again.
And, on this night, those winds stirred up the Yellowjackets (5-1, 6-7).
The two teams played a first half of precision, sound offense. The longest shot of the half was a 10-footer by Carver’s David Hairston at the halftime buzzer. Hairston’s basket gave theYellowjackets a 25-24 lead. Carver had led 6-2 early, but Smith rallied behind guard Quintin Jackson to lead 24-19 with 1:14 left in the halftime.
Perhaps a harbinger of what would come in the fourth quarter, the Yellowjackets’ defense shut down the passing lanes and produced the last six points of the half.
Carver gained a modicum of control with a 14-9 third-quarter edge. Its largest lead was 34-27 and it was 39-33 entering the final period.
But the resilient Eagles rallied behind forward Justin Ellerbe. Running its Flex offense (triangle on ball-side of the floor and two men on the weakside), Smith put the game in the hands of its talented junior, who led all scorers with 20 points.
However, it was senior guard Jamie Totten who got the comeback run started. Totten drove strong to the basket to start the fourth quarter. Totten took a pass at the elbow and exploded down the lane for a right-handed layup.
After a Hairston basket pushed the lead back up to six, Jackson made one of two free throws for 41-36. Keegan Haggins drove for another Carver basket for 43-36.
That’s when Smith made its move. Jackson drilled a three-pointer from the left key and Sean Mapp followed with a steal and layup out of the Eagles’ fullcourt press. Ellerbe then took over. He made a steal on an inbounds pass and was fouled. He made both ends of the one-and-one to tie the game at 43. After a Yellowjacket miss, Ellerbe sandwiched a 16-footer and an eight-foot bank shot around one Carver free throw for a 47-44 Smith edge.
But then the Smith offense met Carver’s suffocating halfcourt man-to-man defense. Hairston made a crucial follow shot for 47-46 before guard LaShun Peoples began the night’s greatest flurry of larceny. He made a perfect wing denial that would have made Mike Krzyzewski smile and his layup off the steal put Carver back ahead at 48-47. He stole the ball again on the next possession and fed a teammate for a dunk. Then, to end the defensive orgy, he stole the ball a third time and scored on another layup. He actually stole the ball a fourth time, but somehow Hairston missed a wide-open layup.
“He’s that kind of kid,” Carver coach Mike Pennington said of Peoples. “He always comes up with key plays when we need them.”
Smith coach Chris Spence called timeout after the fourth consecutive Eagle possession had ended in a theft. Only 1:23 remained and the Flex offense was suddenly producing no quality scoring opportunities for the Golden Eagles.
However, Smith wasn’t done. Chris Howard made a strong move to the basket, laid the ball in and drew the foul. His free throw with 1:10 left put the Eagles down 52-50. After a Carver free throw, Ellerbe was fouled. He hit one foul shot for 53-51. There were 52 seconds left, an eternity in basketball.
After Carver called timeout, Smith decided to play tough man-to-man defense and not foul. The hope was to get the Yellowjackets to panic and turn the ball over or take a bad shot. CHS nearly turned it over twice trying to inbounds, but finally they Jackets got the ball in and worked the clock down to 21.3 seconds before Ellerbe fouled Hairston, who hit both free throws.
Howard missed a three-pointer and Carver made one last free throw for the final 56-51 score.
“Smith is really a tough team,” Pennington said. “They play the best man-to-man defense in the conference. They should have beaten Dudley Tuesday night. It was just one of those things at the end of the game, sort of a fluke.”
Spence was disappointed in his team’s execution at the end of the game.
“I just think we lacked control on offense in the last four minutes,” Spence said. “We wanted the ball in Ellerbe’s hands, but we don’t want to stop the offense’s continuity. Too many of our players stand around and watch him when we run Flex and we just don’t execute.
“We also need a bona fide ball-handler to take charge down the stretch.”
Perhaps in no week of the 1998-99 season has the loss of point guard Jarell Bailey been more painful than this one. Bailey, who improved dramatically last season, did not return to Smith in August after his father moved him to California. That forced Spence to move Jackson to the point. Jackson is better suited to play the No. 2 guard.
Spence also was unsatisified with his team’s defense in the third quarter, when Carver took control of the game.
“It wasn’t our intensity,” Spence said. “It was the fact that we were holding and reaching. The refs saw it and called it, and Carver got into the bonus quickly.”
In fact, Smith commited four team fouls in the first 1:24 of the second half. That put Carver in the one-and-one quickly. The Yellowjackets finished 21 of 32 from the line. The Golden Eagles, by contrast, were 5 of 11.
“Honestly, we aren’t a real good perimeter team,” Pennington said, “so we try to penetrate to the basket. We know that we have to get to the line to win.”
Hairston and Haggins led Carver with 13 points apiece. Peoples added 10. Totten finished with 10 for Smith.
The Golden Eagles will try to get back on track in the PTC next Tuesday niht when its hosts Western.
The Smith girls got a dominating performance from Graham. The senior center had 14 rebounds to go with her 18 points.
“We’ve been in a slump and we’ve been trying to teach our team to look into the post at least once each time down the court,” said Smith coach Hank Bullard. “We’ve gotta start showing our opponents that we have a strong inside game.”
Tonya Fralin added 14 points and Tamisha Seagroves 13 for the Lady Eagles. Porche Jones led Carver (1-5, 1-12) with 19. The Lady Yellowjackets were coached by former boys’ coach Alfred Poe, the school’s athletic director. Poe took over for Chellia Nelson, who resigned after the holiday break. Poe is serving as interim coach.
In junior varsity action the Smith boys got 19 points from Everett Bruce to produce a 78-71 win over Carver. It marked the second time this week that the BLS JV boys had beaten an undefeated conference team. Smith (3-3, 10-7) also got 15 points from JoJo McLaughlin. Kelly Saunders and Trey Clayton added 12 and 10, respectively.
Freshman CeCe Carter totaled 21 points to lead the Smith girls to a 40-28 victory. The Lady Eagles improved to 4-2 in the conference and 7-6 overall.
The second-ranked Parkland boys (6-0, 14-1) got 17 points and 10 rebounds from Danny Gathings to whip Western 66-39 Friday night. Meanwhile, Dudley (4-2, 11-6) routed Southwest (1-5, 5-13) 95-54. Eric Hicks had 16 and Mintrell Abney 14 for the Panthers.
In girls’ action, Western (5-1, 12-4) got a 60-49 win over Parkland (3-3, 3-11) behind Beth Vernon’s 19 points. Dudley edged Southwest 35-34. The Lady Panthers improved to 3-3 in the league and 6-9 overall. Southwest is 1-5 and 5-13.
Up next: Smith hosts Western Guilford Tuesday. The girls’ game starts at 6 p.m.; the boys’ game at 7:30.
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