Southern Wayne freshman guard Kairel Evans (5) drives past Eastern Wayne’s Charlie Thomas toward the basket during second-half action Friday evening. Evans scored 19 points. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne sophomore Jayden Hardy knocks down one of his career-high 27 points against Eastern Wayne Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Chris Carmon (1) defends a shot by Eastern Wayne’s JQ Carr during first-quarter play Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
DUDLEY — Oh, sweet victory and Saints be praised. Southern Wayne earned a much-needed victory Friday evening.
Sophomore Jayden Hardy dropped in a career-high 27 points to help propel the Saints past cross-county rival Eastern Wayne, 79-68, before a standing-room-only crowd inside “The Halo.”
Patience, execution and discipline proved the difference.
So did free throw shooting.
Southern Wayne converted a season-high 30 shots on 50 attempts, including a 19 of 21 effort in the second half. Sixteen of those makes occurred in the final quarter.
“We left 10 out there in the first half [but] I will take it all day,” Saints head coach Brian West said. “Of course, it puts pressure on you because you’re down by a certain amount of points in the first half, but the way my team battled … were warriors [who] stepped up and got everything done.”
Indeed.
Eastern Wayne led 41-35 midway through the third period.
Sophomore guard Hayden Waller easily drained a wide-open 3-pointer, which ignited a game-changing, 19-6 run. Hardy muscled his way between two EW defenders and kissed a shot off the glass.
The Saints trailed 41-40.
Hardy knotted the contest at 43-43 before the Warriors’ Bobby Tann cashed in a weakside offensive rebound.
“We were playing hard, scrapping, adjusting to how the game was being called,” West said. “We were attacking the rim and I think we got into two [foul] shots early in both quarters.”
Waller knocked down another 3-pointer. Backcourt mate Kairel Evans nailed back-to-back trifectas of his own, which pushed Southern Wayne ahead 52-45. Waller capped the quarter with a midcourt steal and layup.
Eastern Wayne pulled to within 54-50 on two free throws by Charlie Thomas early in the fourth quarter.
That’s as close the Warriors would get.
Hardy’s offensive putback after he misfired underneath the basket polished off a 14-5 surge. The 6-foot-3 power forward scored 10 points during that stretch, including a 3-pointer.
“Jayden is a downhill player … is his nature,” West said. “He can get downhill better than anybody. He’s also a good shooter, which opened up things for our [three-point] shooters Evans and Waller.
“He kept putting pressure on the basket.”
Evans supplied a career-high 19 points, while Waller provided a career-best 15 – all in the second half. Ty Williams added seven points for Southern Wayne, which snapped a two-game skid against the Warriors.
Meanwhile, Eastern Wayne shot 11 of 20 from the free throw line.
Sophomore guard Izeiah Oates paced three Warriors in double figures with 18 points. Thomas filed 12 points in the scorebook, while JQ Carr collected 10.
Each team returns to action next week in the 2023 Greater Neuse River Fellowship of Christian Athletes Winter Classic, which tips off Dec. 20 inside Kornegay Arena on the University of Mount Olive campus. Southern Wayne meets Wayne Christian at 2 p.m., while Eastern Wayne (3-5) takes on James Kenan in the nightcap.
