FRANKLINTON -- Roanoke Rapids essentially kept Corinth Holders’ boys from having a chance to tie Bunn for the Northern Carolina 2-A Conference regular season championship with an upset win two weeks ago. The Pirates, however, made sure a second upset didn’t occur in the semifinals of the conference tournament on Wednesday night.
The inside-outside combination of Kiyon Walden and Kenny Collins combined for 34 points, and the Pirates used some zone defense for the first time to hold the Jackets to 31 percent shooting (16-for-51) from the field on their way to a 57-44 victory.
Corinth Holders, the No. 2 seed, improved to 19-6 overall and faced No. 1 seed Bunn (24-2) in the championship game on Friday. That game took place after the deadline for this edition.
Corinth Holders played zone and Roanoke Rapids had trouble hitting consistently from outside. The Pirates also limited the Jackets’ center Stephen Vassor to just eight points after he scored more than 20 in Roanoke Rapids’ win at CHHS two weeks ago.
“The purpose of the zone was to limit him,” CHHS coach Chris Davis said of Vassor. “We played man-to-man on a miss and a 2-3 zone on a make. The good news is, we shot well enough that we didn’t have to play transition defense a whole lot. The key to the game was the zone. We didn’t run it perfect, but it was the first we ran it all year. I guarantee you, it wasn’t in Roanoke Rapids’ preparation – it was something totally different from what we had done all year.”
The Yellow Jackets never led and tied it only once, at 3-2 in the first couple of minutes. Collins and Klilah Cox scored a pair of baskets each to give Corinth a 15-12 lead after the first quarter.
Butler Collins’ two buckets kick-started the Pirates’ offense in the second period. Walden, Kenny Collins and Hampton Smith also scored to help the No. 2 seed take a nine-point lead (30-21) into halftime.
The Jackets cut the deficit to eight points three minutes into the third, but a 9-4 run (Kenny Collins had two 3s) vaulted Corinth to a 12-point advantage by the end of the quarter. A 7-0 flurry by the Pirates early in the fourth pretty much put the game away, though Roanoke Rapids went on a 7-2 run to make it 53-39.
Kenny Collins led all scorers with 20 points for Corinth, while Walden added 14. Clay Lockamon paced Roanoke Rapids with 13 points.
CHHS 54, FHS 53
Ki-yon Walden’s basket with 3.3 seconds remaining and Kenny Collins’ interception of a long inbounds pass by Franklinton sealed No. 2 Corinth Holders’ narrow victory over the No. 7 seed Rams in the first round of the conference tournament at home on Monday.
Franklinton led 46-42 with 4:11 left but the Pirates came up with some big shots and free throws when it counted, outscoring the Red Rams12-7 in the remaining time.
A basket by Butler Collins and two free throws by Walden tied it at 46 with 3:19 to play, but Romeo Debnam’s bucket and free throw gave FHS a 49-46 edge just 15 seconds later.
Dymon Walker hit two free throws and Walden followed with two more to give Corinth Holders a 50-49 lead with 2:12 left.
Debnam’s foul shots with 37.3 seconds left gave the Red Rams a 51-50 lead, but the Pirates took the lead back on two free throws by Collins with 33.5 seconds showing.
Tykwan Crudup, who scored 18 points for Franklinton, banked in a 10-footer with 17.2 seconds left, put the Red Rams ahead 53-52.
Klilah Cox momentarily lost control of a pass left of the foul line. He retrieved it and flipped a pass to Walden, who made the basket and was fouled. He missed the free throw as FHS’s Brad Davis (who also had 18 points) grabbed the rebound and called timeout with two seconds left.
Daquan Neal had to throw a long inbounds pass and Collins caught it on the right baseline as time ran out.
Walden finished with a game-high 23 points for Corinth Holders, while Collins added 17 – including three 3-pointers.
Crudup had nine of his team’s 12 points in the first quarter. Franklinton played without its top player, Jamaal Johnson, due to injury.
Davis keyed the Red Rams in the second period with nine points.
