WEB CAST.
Garner ended the 2012-13 regular season on Friday night at Trojan Coliseum and, on senior night, won a share of the conference championship for a fifth straight season with a 75-68 victory over Harnett Central.
Harnett Central (8-14, 4-10) began the game on fire as the Trojans could not get any of their point blank jump shots to fall as Central built a six point, 18-12 lead after the opening eight minutes.
Central sustained its hot shooting into the second stanza as Garner (19-3, 13-1) played every senior on the roster before coach Eddie Gray subbed in the regular starters, which allowed the Trojans to spurt back into the contest and cut the lead to a single point at 31-30 at the break.
In the opening, half, Skyler Strickland, who got the senior night start scored all six of his points in the opening half which tied his career high. Additionally, Foster Dubar, added seven of his 11 in the first half for the men of Troy.
Central came charging out of the gates in the second half and built a 41-37 lead with 4:39 left prompting Garner to call a timeout to regroup. Following the timeout, the Trojans went on a spurt of 10-5 to climb back into the lead and took the lead for good with 1:51 left in the third before closing the third stanza with a 52-51 lead.
Demarcus Sanford, took over in the final period pouring in 10 of his 23 points to lead a balanced attack of four players in double figures. For Sanford, Friday marked his third consecutive game with 23 points and his fourth straight contest of 20 points or more.
Julius Barnes added 17 along with 11 from Dubar and 10 from Sammy Saunders to lift the Trojans to a 75-68 victory.
Garner returns to action on Tuesday night at 7:00 in the opening round of the conference tournament. The Trojans will not know its opponent or its seed in the tournament until after a coin flip on Saturday morning.
The Trojans won the coin flip on Saturday morning and will have home court advantage in the conference tournament. Garner will host West Johnston at 7:00 on Tuesday. Knightdale and East Wake will also play on Tuesday at Garner, they will tip at 5:30.
Varsity Girls Fall
Garner and Harnett Central went into the halftime break tied at 25. However, it was Central who came out of the gate blazing in the second half going on a spurt to put the game away and down the lady Trojans 57-39.
Coach Mays and the lady Trojans will return to action on Monday night at 5:30 in the opening round of the conference tournament as Garner will take on Harnett Central from East Wake High School.
JV Splits
The JV teams earned a split on Friday night in their season finales. The girls finished the season with a 39-36 loss while the boys closed the season with a dominating 62-43 victory.
