Garner avenges playoff loss to Southern Durham with big win

Posted December 2, 2009 at 7:57 pm and filed under GMHS, Sports.

By Chris Edwards
Citizen Journalist

This past February, the Garner Magnet High School varsity boys basketball team was clicking on all cylinders. They had won the Greater Neuse River Conference for the first time since 2006 and were in the second round of the state playoffs against a Southern Durham team that had a losing record and used several upsets to reach round two.

When Garner built a 22-point halftime lead in the playoffs, the Trojans were feeling comfortable. But the Southern Durham Spartans came back and defeated Garner 81-78 to advance to the third round.

Now, 10 months later, Garner traveled to Southern Durham Saturday, Nov. 28 for the first-ever Spartan Thanksgiving Classic. The Trojans were looking to avenge their loss to the Spartans, and they did just that with a 77-56 win.

Garner opened this season with a 25-point loss to Terry Sanford but was looking to improve on their first outing of the season. They came out on fire in the first quarter Saturday, building a seven-point lead at the end of the first period of play. The lead grew to 20 points at 49-29 at halftime. Stephon Drane led his team in scoring, chipping in 16 first-half points. But with the 20-point lead, many fans had to wonder if the Trojans would have a repeat of last year’s playoff game.

That fear looked like it would come true in the third quarter as Southern Durham switched to a 2-3 zone and stifled Garner on offense. But the Trojans found their stroke late in the quarter and managed to get the Spartans into some foul trouble. Garner had a 61-44 lead after three.

The Trojans didn’t yield an inch in the fourth quarter as they made sure there would be no fourth-quarter comeback. They poured in the offense, cruising to a 77-56 win over Southern Durham.

Garner is now an even 1-1 on the season and will host Terry Sanford at home Tuesday, Dec. 1. They’ll then travel to Enloe High School Thursday, Dec. 3. Tip-off for both games is set for 7:30 p.m.

Scoreboard

Garner

  • S. Drane 23
  • D. Johnson 15
  • M. Koscielny 9
  • E. McClain 9
  • D. Dorsey 8
  • J. McClain 6
  • G. Wilson 5
  • D. Anderson 4

S. Durham

  • J. Sanders 16
  • J. Hunter 13
  • A. Satterwhite 10
  • P. Jones 7
  • D. Jordan 6
  • E. Collins 5
  • K. Dores 2

Related articles:

Print This Print This
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

We believe that reader interaction is a valuable feature on our website and aim to foster an online community that is enriching, robust and respectful. We reserve the right to remove any comment that contains profanity or obscenity; is an advertisement for services or a solicitation of funds; contains a personal attack or a threat; or is unrelated to the story.