Greensboro Page

slips past Pioneers
By Daniel Clark
Special to the Democrat

The 2007-08 edition of the Watauga Pioneers boy’s basketball team became the first since 1989 to advance in the state playoffs when they upset Northwestern 4-A Conference champion East Burke last Tuesday.

However, the Pioneers could not muster enough offense to overcome Greensboro Page, falling 56-49 in the second round.

“It’s hard for the seniors to lose and know your careers are over,” Watauga coach Rob Sanders said. “I am extremely pleased with their effort. With the roller coaster ride we have been on this season they could have easily packed it in. They fought from the opening tip of every game to the end; they never quit. I would go to battle with these men any day.”

In a game of streaks, Watauga (10-16) lead 14-12 in the first before the Pirates closed the quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 20-14 advantage.

The Pioneers then went on a 9-2 run keyed by five points from Chad Eppley, to regain the advantage at 24-22.

That’s when Watauga would get hit with the turnover bug. Watauga turned it over on three straight possessions and four out of five to allow Page to end the half on a 9-0 run, giving the Pirates a 33-24 halftime lead.

The Pirates came out of the locker room and looked poised to bury Watauga early in the second half. Page scored the first four points of the half to extend its lead to it’s biggest margin of the game at 13 (37-24) and force Sanders to burn a 30 second timeout.

Watauga came out of the timeout and scored the next nine points to cut the deficit to four at 37-33 before the Pirates’ 6-foot-9 center, Julius Brooks, threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk. The lead would be cut to one at 43-42 on an Eppley putback before AJ Finney added a jumped to end the third quarter with Page leading 45-42.

In the fourth quarter, Page switched to a 2-3 zone defense and moved into its stall offense by holding the ball just over halfcourt. The Pioneers were forced out of their 2-3 zone that they had been imposing and switched into a man to man. This allowed the Pirates to use their athleticism and get to the foul line in the fourth.

The Pirates made five free throws between three Pioneer baskets to lead 50-48. Page’s Christian McCain hit a hook shot in the lane to push the lead to 52-48 with 1:11 to go. Page hit two more free throws and a Luqman Tijani jam netted their final four points, while Watauga hit a free throw after the game had been put away to net the final margin.

“The first five or six minutes, we didn’t miss a three and I think that hurt us a little,” Sanders said. “They always say if you live by the three eventually you will die by the three. There in the fourth the scouting report we got on them was exactly right. They got their lead and sat back in the zone and we could not hit a big shot from the perimeter.”

Page hit 12-of-20 at the free throw line for the game to just 4-of-7 at the line for Watauga. David Isaacs led Watauga with 17 points, while Eppley added 11 and Alan Herndon 10.

Deonte Maddox led Greensboro Page with 13 points while McCain added eight off the bench.