WEB CAST.
Garner and West Johnston met for the third time this season on Wednesday night at Garner's Trojan Coliseum and once again it was another back and forth heated contest with neither team giving an inch, however, much like the other contest the two teams have played this year, the game was a game of runs, but in the end, Garner's run would last longer than West Johnston's tired legs as the Trojans came away with a 79-65 win over the Wildcats.
Each team was playing their third game in as many days, however West was unable to rest their starters during the first two games this week due to both games coming down to the wire, but early on, Garner was killing themselves as West Johnston continued to turn the ball over, but Coach Gray's squad was unable to convert points off those turnovers as the Trojans were have a stretch of sloppy play of their own, and after the first quarter, Garner had a 16-9 lead.
In the second quarter, Garner managed a little run to get ahead by eight, but West Johnston came storming back thanks to the play of Mark Parker who scored five second quarter points to pull West to within four at halftime at 32-26.
But, as you looked at the first half score sheet, neither team really had much to write home about as the leading scorer in the first half for West Johnston was Mark Parker with eight and for Garner, Emanuel McClain also had eight for the Trojans.
Both teams came out much different clubs in the second half as finally some of the Trojan regulars found their shot as Stephon Drane and Gavin Wilson led Garner in scoring in the third quarter with 7 and 8 respectively and after three Garner lead by only three as West Johnston hung close, 45-42 Trojans, after three.
In the games final stanza, the Trojans were able to run past the Wildcats with the fresher legs as Garner's Stephon Drane exploded in the fourth with 11 fourth quarter points to finish with a game high 24 as Garner went on a big 15-5 run to put the game away. Garner placed four players in double figures as they came away with the 79-65 win.
With the win, the Trojans (15-8, 14-2) will move on to Friday night's Conference Championship game where they will meet the East Wake Warriors (10-15, 6-10), who upset Knightdale 61-48 in the other semi-final on Wednesday night.
Since Garner is the number one seed in the Tournament, both the Girls and Boys Championship games will be played at Garner. The Girls will play first at 6:00 followed by Garner and East Wake at 7:30.
Scoring:
West Johnston: M. Parker 20, B. Jacobs 16, S. Dance 7, C. Fredrick 7, T. Davis 4, T. Colton 3, A. King 2, J. McNeill 2
GARNER: S. Drane 24, D. Johnson 19, G. Wilson 19, E. McClain 10, J. Moye 4, D. Reed 3.
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