Spartans Avoid a Hazardous Hornet Hive in 75-69 win

Wednesday February 17, 2010

As soon as I arrived at the cross-town battle between Durham rivals Hillside and Southern, the high energy and up-tempo traits of the game hit me full force. Before I could sit down, Hillside’s Miykael Faulcon and Elijah Ensley broke out for a 2-on-1, fast-break, ALLEY…no oop! The dropped exchange led to a 4 point swing as the Spartans converted a quick lay-up on the other end.

At this point, Southern led 32-20 with 2:30 remaining in the 2^nd quarter. After a couple of empty possessions from both squads, Southern began to hold the ball for the last shot with one minute to go; the plan backfired as a steal led to a 1-2 outing at the free throw stripe.  With 20 seconds remaining in the half, Southern’s Geoff Hunner again held the ball for the last shot, but came up empty from deep as time expired. Though Southern went into the half with a comfortable 32-21 lead, it was evident that the Hornets had no intentions of giving up.

After the break, both teams came out focused, confident, and aggressive. Out of the gates, the Spartans and Hornets went bucket for bucket on six consecutive possessions before Hillside coach, Daryl Robinson, called a timeout to take them out of man-to-man and implement the 2-2-1, full-court press. This led to two quick steals and buckets for Hillside standout, Lattrell Royster…and a resurgence of the Hornet crowd. But each and every time Hillside seemed to make a push, Southern’s Julian Saunders had an answer. Whether it was through a strong finish in traffic, or a crowd-awing dunk on the break, Saunders was the x-factor in Southern’s equation to keep Hillside out of reach, totaling a game-high 23 points.

Though the Hornets cut the lead down to as little as three, they were never able to capitalize on game changing opportunities. The result was a 75-69 victory for a Southern Durham team that faces top seeded Riverside in their next game.

David Jordan had a big 14 points for Southern Durham.  For Hillside Torian Graham(20 points), Royster(18 point), and Faulcon(13 points) were the top scorers.    

Jeffery Smith

Trianglehoops.net staff