Gryphon Boys Edge Girls 82-81

Tuesday night the Rocky Mount High School basketball teams played in front of the home folks and the home crowd did not go home disappointed.  The Gryphon boys remained undefeated posting a 82-70 win over the Bruins of Beddingfield while the girls laid a hurting on the normally good Lady Bruins but not tonight as the Lady Gryphons crush Beddingfield 81-27.

I believe Terrell Hilliard had his career high scoring 30 points to lead the way but Beddingfield was not willing to submit to the Gryphon press and run game  and the Gryphons could never quite get a comfortable margin and keep it there.  Twice Rocky Mount lead by 15 and 16 points but both time Beddingfield cut it under ten points until the final 12 point spread.  Beddingfield out rebounded the Gryphons 42-32 and that was worse in the second half 28-15.  The turnovers were close at 18 for RM and 15 for the Bruins.

K J peoples had a 12 point 12 rebound night.  Levon Brutus had a stretch in the second quarter in which he completely dominated the game.  He finished with 17 points.  Tevin Taylor hit three timely bombs for three pointers and finished with 11 points.

Corey Taylor lead the Bruins with 15.  He was followed by Travis Barnes with 14, then Donte Artis scored 13 and the last double digit scorer was Dearon Ward with 11.

Years past the Lady Bruins of Beddingfield and Rocky Mount have had some really good games against each other but not tonight.   Rocky Mount  spurted to a 28 to 6 first quarter lead and never looked back as the Lady Gryphons had the defense rolling creating turnovers and easy buckets.

J'Kyra Brown scored 12 point in the first few minutes and by the half Beddingfield could only score 15.  By games end Bown put 27 points on the boards.  She was followed by Tia Hudgins with 17.  Those two themselves out scored Beddingfield. Next on the scoring trail was Ty'Ais Cooper with 8.  Carmen Richardson had 6, Kelsey Daniels 5.  Those scoring four points were Alexus Cooper, Takeyra Thomas and Amani Kipp.

The best quarter of the game was the fourth quarter for Beddingfield as they hit double digits and were only out scored 13-10 in the final quarter.  Any hope of a Beddingfield comeback down 42-15 at the half  was squashed by the Gryphons who  in the third quarter out scored the Lady Bruins 26-2.

This is the second win of the season for the Lady Gryphons who beat Fike by thirty 36 on Saturday and now another Wilson county school by  54.  The boys are 3-0.

The Gryphons will not be home again until December 16th.  Friday they travel to Hertford County.  Considering this was a Tuesday night non conference game there was a good crowd on hand as it seemed the gryphon fans were ready for some basketball since the football season has now been over for a month.

Tebow Keeps Winning

The Denver Broncos put themselves into position Sunday beating San Diego in San Diego  to have a spot at the playoffs.  Tim Tebow has done a good job to not make mistakes and Denver has won 5 of the 6 games he has started at quarterback but let's get real.  Denver offense is poor.  If the offense is poor and they have won 5 of 6 then everybody must be forgetting about their defense.

I am glad that Tim Tebow has been able to put God and Jesus up front and in the public.  He has his haters because ofit but I respect his cause, but without their defense playing the way they are playing  they probably won 2 games.  John Fox has got the defense working to perfection.

Rocky Mount Gryphon runner Mason Holt ran Saturday in the Southeastern Regional of the Nike Cross Nationals in Wake Med Park in Cary.  This is a qualifier for the Nationals and you had to finish in the top ten.  Mason Finished 19th out of nearly 250 runners with a time of 17:07 in his 5K run.

It is time for fourth annual Tarboro live football show on the Stretchlon Sports Show next Sunday night on WHIG-TV.  Coach Jeff Craddock was gracious enough to appear live three years ago when they were clobbered in the finals.  The last two years have had much more joy during the show after winning two titles.  Left a message at Tarboro today with him that he was invited again next Sunday night but Monday's is the most hectic day since all the coaches gather that will be playing in State Championship games this weekend in Raleigh.

Talk with coach A B Whitley last night at church and the Vikings have several players that they have their fingers crossed that can play this Saturday including Todd Gurley.  The Vikings have plenty of bumps and bruises this season much more than any of the past three state championship trips.

The Tarboro Vikings are now 18-1 in the past four years of State playoff competition.

Rocky Mount Gryphons with three during the regular season tournaments to play in this year will not appear too many times at home.  Eight times to be exact.  Five times for conference and three non conference games and one of those is Tuesday night as they host Beddingfield.

Never Give Up

Those words were never truer than yesterday in Raleigh, the Wolfpack down by 27 with ten minutes to play in the third quarter.  My guess 20,000 people looked like they were in a rush to the mall at 4am to get out of the game, then by ten minutes to go they all came back.

Early rumors are the Pack is heading to Charlotte and Carolina to DC.  There will be an official BCS Bowl selection show on Sunday night December 4th. It be the official word on where everyone goes.

North Carolina lost their first basketball game of the season last night against UNLV.  Every team has short comings and UNLV exposed Carolina to being slow.  Carolina played much better with a small guard lineup over their big lineup.  No need to fret however as everyone will lose two or more as this season unfolds.  The Runnin Rebels made 13 three pointers which will not happen every night.

How bout those Vikings of Tarboro High School.  They will make their fourth straight trip to the 2-A State Championship game.  There is one major difference this year over the past year in the finals.  The Vikings are banged up and will not be at 100% going up against Lincolnton.  Despite not being healthy the Vikings keep winning.  That brings up the point how good could this team be if they were healthy.  Go Vikes!.

If you like Rocky Mount high basketball either boys or girls this could really be a very good season for both.  Despite losing to Millbrook's 4-A girls Friday night the Lady Gryphons will not play many teams as tall as they were.  Look for both Northern Nash and Rocky Mount with shots at making the Regionals in Fayetteville in March.

The Gryphon boys  are in the Holiday tournament at Broughton  after Christmas and there is no telling what their record might be by the First of January but if both Gryphon Teams stay healthy March could be a fun time.  I have told you in the past of players that I take a liking for  and Terrell Hilliard is a great team player.  He lets the game come to him.  Last night he had a chance at one of those slam tear down the rim dunks and he just planted both feet on the ground and went straight up and after the dunk went back and played defense.   My kind of player.