WEB CAST.
Garner fell behind by 10 points midway through the final quarter on Wednesday night at Jerry Smith Court only to storm back and cut the Clayton lead to three, however the comeback fell just short as the Trojans dropped their first conference game of the season, 67-61.
Clayton (19-2, 10-1) fell behind 21-6 after the opening quarter sparked by the play of Trojan sophomore Julius Barnes who converted a four-point play late in the opening stanza to lift the men of Troy to a 15 point lead.
However, the Comets came storming back in the second quarter led by Anthony Gaskins who finished the half with 10 points along with eight from both Gary Clark and Chis Dixon. Despite the second quarter surge, the Comets still trailed Garner (16-3, 10-1) by three points, 29-26 at the break.
The second half belonged mostly to the Comets who seemed to hit every shot they took building a five-point lead, 48-43 after three quarters.
Garner seemed stagnant on offense in the final stanza as Clark, poured in 13 second half points to finish with 21 points for the Comets. The junior also achieved a triple-double capturing 19 rebounds and blocking 11 Garner shots.
But the real killer for the Trojans was the play of Gaskins who scored 22 points in the second 16 minutes to finish with a game high 32 points including six three pointers in the contest.
Despite the Comet offensive surge, the Trojans still had a shot at the end of the game storming back from a 10-point deficit with 4:05 left in the game to cut the game to two points (63-61) with 1:03 to play. However, the men of Troy could not get a key rebound at the end of the game and the Comets nailed a its free throws down the stretch to even the season series with Garner with a 67-61 win.
The Trojans return to action on Friday night when they travel to Knightdale for an 8:00 tip-off.
Varsity Girls Upset Comet
Garner Comeback Falls Short
Garner won its third game in-a-row on Wednesday night when they upset the Clayton Comets 62-61 at Jerry Smith Court.
Clayton led the game by five points at halftime and the lead grew to as many as eight points before the lady Trojans came storming back on the heels of big buckets from Kahayani Chandler to even the score before Garner took a three-point lead after free throws from Kelsey Bryan.
However the win did not come easily as the Comets stole an inbound pass but could not even the score as Garner sent Clayton to its fourth straight loss with a 62-61 win.
The Lady Trojans travel to Knightdale on Friday night at 6:30.
JV Sweeps
Both JV teams defeated Clayton on Wednesday. The JV Girls picked up a 30-25 win while the JV boys downed the Comets 49-24.
The JV girls face Knightdale on the road Friday at 4:00 while the JV boys follow at 5:15.
