SNOW HILL—It was a typical opening game for Greene Central and Jones Senior. Some good, some bad, a few answers, many questions.
Most of the good belonged to the Rams.
GC’s boys turned in a solid, but not spectacular, first-night effort, and used a pair of 10-0 runs — one in each half — to take down the visiting Trojans 75-54 Tuesday in both teams’ season openers.
In the girls’ contest, the Rams overcame some sloppy play early, built a double-digit lead in the third quarter and then held on for a 50-42 victory.
It was the GC boys, however, who at times looked to be in midseason form.
“We had some stretches where we played extremely well,” Rams coach Jim Cole said. “But there were also times where we looked the part of a team playing its first game. Overall, I’m pleased that we were able to get away with the win.”
The Rams never trailed and were leading 28-23 midway through the second quarter when Javan Rozelle banked in three-pointer from the right wing, igniting a 10-0 spurt that put GC up by 15 with 1:18 left before halftime.
Another trey by Rozelle at the 5:09 mark of the third period gave GC its largest lead, 48-29, before the Trojans reeled off 11 straight points of their own in less than a minute, closing to within eight with 4:10 to go in the frame.
“We went from playing very well to very careless in about 60 seconds,” Cole said. “Fortunately, we’ve got good senior leadership, and those kids were able to keep us composed and under control.”
Under control and composed enough to score the game’s next 10 points before the Trojans’ Malik Black converted a layup to close out the third quarter.
“For 28 minutes, this was basically an even basketball game,” Jones coach Justin Barker said. “Two minutes in the second quarter and a couple of minutes in the third quarter made all the difference.”
The Trojans drew no closer than 15 in the final period. GC’s largest lead came at 21, the final margin of victory.
“Overall I thought we competed and played hard,” Barker said. “I told the kids that we won’t play another team the rest of the year with their (GC’s) size and athleticism. This is one game, but it gives us something to build on.”
Rozelle led all scorers with 20 points, while Greene Central’s Quante Smith added 17 points, 8 rebounds and three blocked shots.
“Our game plan was to get Quante involved early on offense in the post,” Cole said. “We did an excellent job of feeding him the ball, and Quante responded with a very good performance.”
K.D. McCall paced the Trojans with 17 points and a game-high 14 boards. Point guard Rayshaun Barfield added 14 points, despite missing a good portion of the second half with foul trouble.
“Rayshaun is our catalyst on both ends of the floor,” Barker said. “Losing him in the second half really hurt us.”
GIRLS GAME
Greene Central took a while to get going, but once they did they played pretty well against Jones Senior.
The two teams combined for 22 turnovers in the first quarter alone as both were slow out of the gate.
The Rams led by five at the half, and then opened up a 13-point advantage in the third quarter behind Khalicia Lee, who scored six of her team-high 12 points in the stanza.
A 12-3 fourth-quarter spurt by the Trojans closed a 16-point gap to 49-42 with 1:37 remaining, but the two teams combined for just a single free throw the rest of the way.
Ashley Brimmage added 11 points for the Rams, who turned around and hosted Southwest Edgecombe Wednesday night.
Jones’ Markiara Staten led all scorers with 15, while Latrina Gatling added 14 and Franlena Brimage 11, accounting for all but two of the Trojans’ point total.
Jones hosts Dixon on Friday in its home opener.