North Duplin’s Eli Morrisey, left, goes in for the layup as Spring Creek’s Deyjhon Leonard trails on the play. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
Spring Creek’s DJ Deal fouls North Duplin’s Trashawn Ruffin on the way to the basket Tuesday evening. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin’s James Ward, left, and Spring Creek’s DJ Deal battle for rebound position on a free throw attempt Tuesday evening. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin’s Billy McCoy, middle, draws contact from Spring Creek’s Ashton Singleton after grabbing an offensive rebound Tuesday evening. Defending from behind is the Gators’ Roger Goodspeed. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin senior Richard Noble, left, attempts to block a shot by Spring Creek’s Deyjhon Leonard during second-half action Tuesday evening. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin senior guard Cole Beavers attempts a shot from the corner. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
Spring Creek guard Kiarah Pearson, left, works her way around North Duplin’s Tateyawna Faison and drives toward the basket during second-half action Tuesday evening. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin’s Meghan Martin, right, pulls down a rebound in front of Spring Creek’s Aaliyah Kornegay. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
Spring Creek’s Emily Williams, left, ties up North Duplin’s Tateyawna Faison on a loose ball during first-quarter action. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin’s Lilly Fulghum keeps her eye on the basket during a free throw attempt Tuesday evening. Fulghum shot 5 of 8 from the free throw line and finished with nine points. (Rudy Coggins/mountolivetribune.com)
SEVEN SPRINGS – — Ugly wins count, too.And in North Duplin’s case, two are better than one.
The Rebels’ varsity basketball teams ventured into “The Swamp” and departed with two not-so-sharp victories Tuesday evening.
Richard Noble dropped in nine of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter to help ignite a come-from-behind, 44-36 triumph over the Gators.
North Duplin’s girls extended their regular-season win streak to 13 with a convincing 58-34 decision that was close for nearly two-thirds of the opening half.
Each team is 4-0.
“We let their pressure kind of get us all rattled,” ND boys head coach Jeff Byrd said. “It wasn’t like they were trying to speed us up, we sped up [ourselves]. We panicked. I had some guards turn the ball over who haven’t turned it over [much] all year.
“I don’t think we started off good.”
Particularly after halftime.
North Duplin led 24-14, but saw that advantage evaporate. Seven turnovers and six missed field goals on the Rebels’ first 16 possessions opened the door for the Gators.
Roger Goodspeed’s 3-pointer off Deyjhon Leonard’s assist knotted the contest at 25-25 with just over 5 1/2 minutes left in the third. Ashton Singleton gave SC its first lead, 27-25, with a bank shot.
DJ Deal followed with a 3-pointer.
The Gators led 30-25.
“I always tell the boys whether we come out [from halftime] either up or down, we’re going to get that team’s best two or three minutes when we come out,” first-year SC head coach Daniel Krentz said. “Most of the time this year when we’ve done that, we haven’t matched their intensity. I felt like tonight was the first time we really matched their intensity…matched their effort.”
Six-foot-3 freshman Trashawn Ruffin delivered the Rebels’ first basket off a Noble assist with 3:30 to go. His offensive putback on another possession closed the gap to 30-29 before Deal buried a 3-pointer off Carlos Jackson’s assist.
Noble tied the game at 33-33 early in the fourth.
The Gators forged ahead 35-33 on two free throws. They went cold offensively as Noble and Ruffin did the damage offensively. Noble’s free throw and loose-ball rebound pushed the Rebels out front by one possessions around the four-minute mark.
Ruffin supplied his ninth and 10th points of the night on a basket in transition off another Noble assist.
The Rebels snapped a 10-game skid against the Gators, who made just three free throws and missed all of their field goal attempts in the final period.
Leonard led Spring Creek with 10 points.
Girls
Turnovers, missed shots underneath the basket and lack of communication at times bothered the lady Rebels, who collected just their fourth win against the Gators since 2010.
“We haven’t quite gelled,” North Duplin head coach John Oliver said. “We weren’t sharp on our passes, we didn’t get in the passing lanes like we normally do. We didn’t recognize what they were doing [defensively] sometimes.
“We never did run our press offense.”
Despite the troubles, North Duplin led 17-8 after the opening period and boosted that margin to 34-14 by halftime.
Spring Creek (3-2) shaved some of the deficit behind guard Nevaeh Wright, who buried two consecutive 3-pointers and added a layup.
The Rebels responded and pulled away for the road win.
Tateyawna Faison logged 10 points and six rebounds. Lilly Fulghum had nine points and six rebounds. Meghan Martin pulled down seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Addy Higginbotham dished out five assists.
Wright paced the Gators with 11 points. Aaliyah Kornegay and sophomore Heather Alexander scored eight and five points, respectively.
JV
Tev Collins and Luke Kelly led four players in double figures with 16 points apiece during the Rebels’ 75-54 win.
Ben Bullard chipped in 12 points and Branson Martin tallied 11. Wesley Holmes dropped in eight points.
North Duplin (4-0) returns home today for a non-conference matchup against Bear Grass Charter and is the guest of Lejeune on Thursday.
