WEB CAST.
Garner and Harnett Central locked horns for the second time in four days on Monday night at Trojan Coliseum in the opening round of the Greater Neuse River Conference tournament and for the 10th consecutive meeting, the men of Troy bested Central 79-53.
The Trojans (21-2) got off to a sluggish start but relied on senior big man, Dominique Reed, who was on fire in the early going the first five points for the Trojans and score all seven of his first half points in the opening eight minutes to left lead Garner to a 11-5 lead after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Garner found their stride both from the line and from the outside, Gavin Wilson entered the game and promptly nailed his first two shots from the outside to finish with eight first half points. Meanwhile, the Trojans missed just one shot from the charity stripe going 13 of 14 from the line to take a 45-19 lead into the locker room.
Harnett Central (4-19) tried to claw back into the game in the third quarter scoring the first four points of the quarter and went on to outscore Garner 19-13 in the period. Malcolm Graves carried Central with 11 of his game high 22 points in the third stanza but the Trojans still led 58-38 after three.
Coach Gray managed to work everyone into the game and in the closing moments of the game, Sammy Saunders scored a career high nine points to help led the Trojans on to the semi-finals with a 79-53 victory.
Garner will face Knightdale on Wednesday night at 7:30 at Trojan Coliseum. Southeast Raleigh and Clayton will play in the first semi-final at Trojan Coliseum, that game will tip-off at 6:00.
Trojans move into semi-finals of conference tournament
