WEB CAST.
Friday night was a typical Garner/Southeast Raleigh basketball game as the two foes met at Southeast Raleigh High School, and after the Bulldogs jumped ahead of the Trojans, Garner responded as Gavin Wilson scored 15 of his career high 22 points in the second half to lead the Trojans to a 70-60 come from behind victory over Southeast.
The first quarter looked more like a football game than a basketball contest as the play was fast, furious and physical as just two combined fouls were called in the first quarter but at the end of the first stanza, Southeast held a two point, 13-11 lead.
The Bulldog lead would grow to double digits as the second quarter got underway as Garner struggled to find their stroke from beyond the arc as the Trojans hit just one first half three pointer, however, the key to keeping Garner in the game was the play of super Sophomore, Dominique Reed, who scored 10 of his career 12 points in the first half to lead Garner in first half scoring, but alas the Trojans trailed 33-27 at the break.
At halftime, the pep talk by Garner Head Coach, Eddie Gray was a impassioned speech which carried through the halftime break and the officials had to go to the locker room to get the Trojans.
But, whatever Coach Gray said at the break fired his club up as Garner came out on a 9-1 run to take a one point lead at 36-35. But, the Bulldogs didn't quit as they continued to fight but Garner would find their game as Gavin Wilson and Stephon Drane carried Garner in the second half and after three, Garner had a three point 48-45 lead.
In the fourth quarter, the two teams battled back and forth, but Southeast was plagued by foul trouble and as a result, Garner was shooting free throws for the entire fourth quarter and down the stretch, the Trojans hit more shots than they missed and as a result, Garner came away with a hard fought 70-60 win over Southeast Raleigh (8-11, 4-7).
Garner (11-7, 10-1) will return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to East Wake at 7:30.
Scoring:
GARNER: G. Wilson 22, S. Drane 16, E. McClain 13, D. Reed 12, M. Sloan 4, M. Powell 2, D. Johnson 2.
Southeast: J. Newkirk 12, T. Walker 11, T. Griffis 11, T. Hines 10, C. Moore 6, T. Mallette 6, A. Smith 5.
Girls Fall to Bulldogs
Coach Mays and his Lady Trojans came into play on Friday night on a two game winning streak, unfortunately for the Trojans on Friday night they were playing one of the league leaders in Southeast Raleigh.
But, to the credit of the Lady Trojans they didn't back down and hung with the Bulldogs early as they played some hard nosed defense and only trailed by a couple of points at halftime.
In the second half, Southeast was just too much inside for the Lady Trojans as Garner fell to Southeast Raleigh 49-31.
The Lady Trojans will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to East Wake for a 6:00 tip off.
