WEB CAST.
Friday night turned out to be a milestone night all around Garner as the Trojans completed a season that many believed would be a rebuilding year prior to the season, however, when the final buzzer sounded on Friday night, the Trojans had defeated East Wake 85-62 to bring home the first Conference Tournament Championship since 2006.
East Wake (10-16. 6-11) was hoping to spring the upset, because East Wake could only make the state playoffs by winning on Friday, but Garner was not going to let that happen as the Trojans began the game on a 13-1 run and East Wake first year head coach Darin Stinson was forced to call two time outs in the first quarter to try and stop the bleeding, but nothing would cool the Trojans off in the first quarter as they raced out to a 20-5 lead after one.
In the second quarter, it was more of the same as the Trojans big three in Stephon Drane, Donald Johnson and Gavin Wilson got rolling, and really exploited East Wake as Garner used their quickness and size to make life tough for the Warriors and as a result, Garner had a 39-16 lead at halftime.
East Wake tired to make a run in the second half, and did eventually seize the momentum as a pack Trojan Coliseum saw the third quarter sway back and forth, but Stephon Drane put the Trojans on his back and carried his team to the fourth quarter as Drane poured in 11 third quarter points to give Garner a 59-42 lead going to the final stanza.
The fourth quarter was filled with big plays on both sides as each team was able to get the crowd rocking, but in the end, Garner was able to hit the free throws down the stretch as once again it was Donald Johnson hitting from the line as he was 8 of 10 from the line in the fourth quarter alone, and for the game he was 10 of 13.
As the final seconds ticked off and the buzzer sounded the Trojan students flooded the floor to swamp the Trojans as Garner celebrated the 6th Conference Tournament Championship of the Eddie Gray era with a 85-62 win.
Garner will be the number one seed in the State Playoffs which will begin MONDAY night at 7:00 against a team yet to be announced. The bracket will be released Saturday and once the opponent it known it will be passed along!
Friday night was also a milestone for the Trojan Sports Network as the premiere high school broadcast network celebrated the 100th broadcast in network history! The Trojan Sports Network broadcast team would like to express thanks to all of the Trojan Nation for their continued support of the Trojan Sports Network!
Scoring:
East Wake: K. Williams 21, A. Ray 13, Antwan Payton 11, Antonio Payton 9, D. Davis 4, Q. Langen 3.
GARNER: S. Drane 23, D. Johnson 22, G. Wilson 18, D. Reed 9, E. McClain 6, M. Powell 4, D. Harris 4.
Trojans Bring Home Conference Championship
