Not The Same Team

I don't know whether sitting on a last second defeat at the hands of one of their arch rivals during the Christmas Tournament gave the Gryphons a hangover over the holidays or just two weeks without a game. What ever caused Rocky Mount to play in the Twilight Zone Wednesday was not evident tonight as the Rocky Mount Gryphons knock off their down the street rivals Nash Central 71-60 in front of a full house.

Bruce Applewhite and Terrell Hilliard from the high post drove to the basket almost at will in the third quarter to break open a 35 all tie with eight straight points and the Gryphons open up conference play with a victory over the Bulldogs.

13 different Gryphons got at least one rebound lead by Terrell Hilliard who clamped on to 14. Ten different Gryphons scored lead by Applewhite with 16, Hilliard who is playing this week since sitting out much of the month of December finish with 11 points giving him a double double. Tevin Taylor provided much needed outside shooting to garner 11 points while Exzavier Cooper hit double figures with 10.

The third quarter when the Gryphons got some breathing room they force the Bulldogs into seven of their 22 turnovers for the game and just about everyone bit the Bulldogs during Rocky Mount sprint to the lead. The Bulldogs force 18 Gryphon turnovers.

Rocky Mount won the rebound battle 38-33 T J Jones lead the BullDogs with 16, he was followed by Jalen Hendricks with 12 and Nate Pittman with 11. Rocky Mount goes to the exam week 1-0 in conference play and 11-4 overall. Central is now 0-1 and 6-5 for the 2010-2011 campaign.

In girls action the Lady Gryphons pulled away in the second half to rout Nash Central 79-44. I saw just enough to see that J'Kyra Brown lead the way with 20 but anytime you score 79 points in a game almost everyone had their hands in that victory. The girls are 1-0 and 13-2. Both Gryphon teams hit the court next Friday night at Home to Hunt High as exams will be going on the first part of the week.