Western grabs two from Northern Guilford:HS basketball roundup

The Northern Guilford Nighthawks came into the Western Guilford gym out of Friendway Drive on Tuesday evening with great expectations but a third quarter power-surge by the Hornets left Northern in the turning lane as they headed back out on to Friendly Avenue.

WG out-scored Northern 15-3 in the third period en route to the Hornets 55-49 victory in the boys round ball action. The Nighthawks had built a 33-30 halftime over the Hornets but WG came back and took over the contest. I saw it and I still don’t believe it. Every time I looked up at the scoreboard Western was pulling away. WG established a nine-point lead after three stanzas, 45-36. Northern came back in the 4th quarter to close the gap to 50-48 and the Nighthawks had numerous opportunities to take the lead as WG turned the ball over time after time but Northern could not convert the points off of turnovers.

WG hit most of their free throws in the last minute and a half and Western was in the win column for head coach Art Wade and his assistant Calvin Hunt. Monte Alston had 14 points for WG and Aaron Goolbourne added 12. Dylan Berry hit some early three-pointers from deep in the WG parking lot and ended up as the Nighthawk leading scorer with 15. J.R. Grant had 11 for Northern but Jonathan Frye was held to 8 and 6’7 Jacob Lawson only had 3 points plus he fouled out with about 1:45 left the game. For Northern, Asad Lamot just barely scratched with 2 points but Lamot spent most of the 3rd quarter in the locker room getting the area above his eye taped up after suffering a pretty deep cut. Lamot was bleeding and we may have caught some of this on tape, you’ll have to check out our pictures later today.

The Nighthawks had plenty of chances late in the game to win it but their shots just wouldn’t go down and they couldn’t finish as Stan Kowalewski likes to say. The WG Hornets got the job done and are now (8-5) overall and Northern falls to (8-4). A very positive win for WG and Northern hits the road again tonight.(at Rockingham County)

In the girls contest, WG was in control throughout the game and former WG coach Johnny Smith who was on board watching, said it looked like to him that Western was just too big and strong for the 9th and 10th graders from Northern. Western wins for only the second time this season, 43-30 over Northern.

Elsewhere last evening the Grimsley girls moved to (14-0) as they demolished HP Central 62-33. Trumae Lucas had 19. The Page girls(11-2) were winners with Jasmine Gill having a fine night scoring 14 points and then grabbing 10 rebounds, plus Gill scored the 1,000th point of her Pirate career in the 56-27 waltz over East Forsyth. Southeast Guilford is rolling after last night’s 65-24 run past Asheboro. Jazz Gibbs had 18 for the Falcons(12-4) and Paris Alston had herself a double-double with 15 points and 15 boards. Eastern Guilford(10-3) led by Lashonda Anderson eased past Southwest Guilford 50-48. Northwest Guilford(14-1) is doing all they can to stay close to the Grimsley girls and last night they took care of business with a 55-34 win over Smith. Northeast Guilford is finding winning to be fun again as they got an easy victory 64-21 over Western Alamance. Wesleyan Christian fell to (14-4) after the Trojans 47-42 loss to Providence Day.

In boys action, the Grimsley Whirlies were tied with HP Central at the half 33-33, but later out-scored the Bison 16-8 in the decisive fourth quarter and Grimsley(11-3) takes out HPC, 62-52. Senior JB Beloved led the Whirlies with 25 points. East Forsyth slipped one past Page(8-5) as the EF Eagles(4-8) defeated the Pirates 55-54. Dudley got a big night from Brandon Pennix(14 poits and 11 rebounds) and the Panthers(9-2) beat the Panthers(Morehead) 58-44. Northwest Guilford(4-12) claimed their 4th win of the season as they out-scored Smith, 10-5, in the first quarter, on the way to a 46-42 Viking win over the Golden Eagles(1-12). Pat McCarthy 14, Joe Graves 10, and Jarquise Lucas 8 points paced the NWG win. Northeast Guilford(8-5) behind Seth Hawkins(17 points) snared a seven point win over Western Alamance, tripping up the Warriors 58-51.