Great Bridge Tops Kings Fork 59-56
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"Verdana","sans-serif"'>With first place in the Southeastern District on the
line on Thursday night, the Great Bridge Wildcats were well aware of the
importance as they traveled to Suffolk to take on the King's Fork Bulldogs at
the 'Kennel.' Great Bridge had lost each
of their five trips to King's Fork, and the Bulldogs were oozing with
confidence, fresh off five straight wins and a giant road victory over city
rival Nansemond River.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>After watching a seven-point lead with 3:01 to play
evaporate, Great Bridge re-gained its composure with 15.8 seconds to play, and
Coach Gary Obenour
designed a play with senior guard Taj Owens as the
first option. With King's Fork denying
Owens of the basketball, it was up to sophomore guard Marcus Evans to make a play and he delivered, penetrating the
defense and hitting a shot in the lane to give the Wildcats the lead.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>King's Fork then inbounded the ball down a point with
5.2 seconds left, and it was stolen by another sophomore guard in
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Mark Madison, who proceeded to knock
down two free-throws. The Bulldogs'
desperation three-pointer fell short, and Great Bridge survived for a
hard-fought 59-56 win, their first on King's Fork's floor since the 2005-06
campaign.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"The play was to try to get the ball to
class=SpellE>Taj on the run because that's what he does best.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> If we couldn't get it to Taj,
the play was to come back to me and see what I could do with the ball in a
one-on-one situation. I tried my best
and I'm glad we pulled it off," said Evans, his team's leading scorer with 15
points, 11 of which came after half-time.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I knew going to the rack was the best chance for me because
I had a chance at a foul or getting it in.
Once I got down there, I let it go, it felt good and it went in."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>From the start, King's Fork came out with great energy
and defensive intensity, led by Byron
Taylor and Jacorey
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Smith.
The Bulldogs built an 18-10 lead and got balanced scoring with seven
different players scoring in the first quarter.
They also challenged shots defensively with four blocked shots in the
opening period.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>However, Great Bridge (13-2; 11-1) did two things
extremely effectively in the second quarter that enabled them to get back in
the game. On offense, they started to
attack King's Fork, particularly their front-court players, and that resulted
in the Bulldogs' starters being whistled for seven fouls in the first half - -
two apiece by Smith and Army signee Zach
Johnson.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Great Bridge dug in better defensively and held King's
Fork to six points in the second quarter.
They went into half-time only down 24-23.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Additionally, the Wildcats protected the
basketball, not committing a single turnover during the eight-minute stretch,
preventing King's Fork from getting any baskets off transition run-outs.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"They didn't panic and I'm very proud of the way they
played the second quarter," Obenour remarked.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> "I think one of our strengths is our depth.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Nine people played.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Part of that was the first quarter taking
their best shot on their home floor, and in the second quarter standing up and
making some smart plays, took some good shots and worked ourselves back in the
game."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Great Bridge would go on a 21-6 run from the final
minute of the first quarter to the early part of the third quarter.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> In the third quarter, Evans scored seven
points, and the team also got key buckets from Madison as well as steady
contributions from front-court players Kenneth
Davis, Emerson Burk and
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Steve Bienlien as
they had to deal with one of the area's better forwards in Johnson.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Burk, Davis and Bienlien
combined for 15 points and 12 boards to help out the Wildcats' perimeter
consisting of Owens, Evans, Madison and Andre
Banks.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>King's Fork (10-6; 9-3) would stay within striking
defense as their offense was sparked by the hot outside shooting of
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Rod Parrett.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> In the second half alone, Parrett made four
three-pointers, one with two minutes to cut the Bulldogs' deficit to just
two. After Johnson hit a pair of foul
shots to knot the score at 53 with 1:04 remaining, Owens would knock down a
couple of free-throws to put Great Bridge back ahead.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The smooth ball-handling and timely shot-making from
their senior captain Owens was pivotal for Great Bridge down the stretch.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Owens scored six of his 11 points in the
fourth quarter. Until this year, he had
never beaten King's Fork and now he and his teammates have completed a regular
season sweep of the Bulldogs.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It feels great to finally get a win here because
playing against Davante [Gardner] and some of those
guys was tough. When we started off
slow, we knew we had to pick it up, and our whole team came together.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> We know we've got to play better defense than
that and stop starting off so slow," Owens said.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We just have to stay focused, take it a game at a time
and play our best every single game. We
can't let up or else it could be the last night that we're at the top of the
district.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Going into Friday night, the Wildcats have a two-game
lead on King's Fork, Western Branch, Nansemond River and the rest of the pack
with five league games remaining. As
long as they don't trip up more than once, they'll be Southeastern District
Champs and gain a #1 seed for the Eastern Region Tournament, giving them a home
game in the first round.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"The message to the team is nothing is given,
everything is earned. That's our motto.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> We still have a lot of work to do for the
district, and I think our kids understand that.
Nothing's been won yet," Obenour declared.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I will not let them rest on their laurels.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> King's Fork is a great team and they put
themselves in a position for a first place game at home.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> We still have Lakeland tomorrow night,
Nansemond River, Western Branch and Oscar Smith, who beat us on our home
floor. We haven't been in this
opportunity for a long time to win a district.
We have to take advantage of every opportunity."
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Great Bridge Coach Gary Obenour
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Stats:
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Great
Bridge 59:
Marcus Evans - - 15Pts. 6-15FG, 1-5 3's, 2-3FT, 3Reb. 2Stl.
Mark Madison - - 13Pts. 3-7FG, 6-6FT, 5Reb. 3Stl.
Taj Owens - - 11Pts. 3-7FG, 5-7FT, 5Reb. 4Ast
class=GramE>.
Steve Bienlien - - 9Pts. 3-6FG, 3-5FT, 5Reb. 3Blk.
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>King's
Fork 56:
Rod Parrett - - 15Pts. 5-9 3's, 2Reb.
Zach Johnson - - 12Pts. 3-8FG, 6-7FT, 3Reb.
Byron Taylor - - 8Pts. 2-5FG, 4-4FT, 3Reb. 2Stl.
Akanni White - - 8Pts. 3-7FG, 2-6 3's, 4Reb.
class=GramE>3Ast. 2Stl.
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>Matthew Hatfield
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>
serves as AAA State Basketball Analyst for
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