Article and photos from Kai Jones
Wayne County brought back three holiday tournament championships last week.
C.B. Aycock Boys
The Golden Falcons (8-1, 0-1) rebounded from their first loss of the season in the conference opener against East Wake by winning the Kenny Bass Holiday Tournament at Hobbton High in Sampson County.
C.B. Aycock took down host school Hobbton on Monday night, 56-38, to advance to the championship game the next day. Sophomore Kam Prince and junior JD Dunn paced the Falcons in scoring with 15 points each.
Prince would earn MVP after the tournament after finishing with 11 points in the 69-65 win over Triton in the championship game. Dunn added 23 points to the winning effort.
C.B. Aycock will not be back in action until Jan. 4 when the Golden Falcons go on the road to take on conference foe South Johnston (2-7,1-0).
Wayne Country Day
The Chargers (15-2) went to arch-rival Greenfield’s Christmas tournament and went home with the trophy after winning three games in three days.
On Dec. 21, Wayne Country Day crushed Raleigh Christian for the second time this season with a 72-46 final score. Five Chargers scored double digits.
Junior Collin Tanner led the way with 17 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. Sophomore Kayleb Coles led the team in rebounding with nine and put in 14 points and three blocks. Juniors Nayshin Waller and Jordan Cooper and sophomore Carlos Vasquez all tallied double figures as well with 14, 10 and 11 respectively.
The next day the Chargers blew out Grace Christian of Raleigh, 80-42, behind Tanner’s double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds. Cooper tallied 17 points and Waller added another 14 points.
In the first of at least three meetings, Wayne Country Day knocked off Greenfield, 68-62. Cooper earned tournament MVP as he put in 18 points, six rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a block. Tanner put in 19 points, while Waller and Vasquez dropped in 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Chargers will be at a Christmas showcase in Winston-Salem as they battle Liberty Heights Varsity on December 28 and Virginia Academy on Dec. 29.
Goldsboro wins FCA tourney
The FCA tournament at UMO has become a staple to Wayne County hoops over the large part of the last decade. This year, the tourney featured 5 teams from Wayne County, including Goldsboro, Southern Wayne, Rosewood, Wayne Prep and Wayne Christian.
The Cougars (5-3) took the tournament title home for the second time in three years with a win over last year’s runner-up Wayne Prep, 69-66. Goldsboro wasn’t able to compete in the tournament last year, due to the fact the NCHSAA season started after the tournament. The Cougars have won the tournament in six of the last eight years.
Goldsboro junior Ta’Korrie Faison took home the MVP trophy after averaging 28 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks in Goldsboro’s title path. Goldsboro junior Taj Joyner was named first-team all-tournament and senior Justice Wooten was second team.
Wayne Prep sophomore Jaquan Green took home first team honors. Prep’s Amari Latham also took home second team honors.
Wayne Christian took home third place honors after beating Rosewood in the third place game. Wayne Christian senior Jayquan Curry was named to the first team and Rosewood senior Otis Coley was as well.
Southern Wayne came in eighth place and did not win a game in the tournament. The Saints will be back in action on the road against conference foe Hunt on Jan. 4.
Rosewood (2–8) will have non-conference action against Eastern Wayne on Jan. 4. Wayne Christian (8-2) will take on Rocky Mount Academy on January 4. Wayne Prep (7-4)will play Howard on Jan. 4 at home.
Goldsboro will have one more contest in 2021 as they travel to New Bern on December 30.
Princeton
The host Bulldogs (2-2) came up short against Southern Nash in the Deacon Jones Holiday Tournament. Princeton fell 69-41 as Southern Nash (7-1) got a big scoring punch from Jordan Vick’s 32 points. Bulldogs junior Aden Taylor had 16 points, eight rebounds, five rebounds, three steals and three blocks in the loss. Princeton is back in action January 4 against Raleigh Charter.
