Late in the fourth quarter against Eastern Wayne, Goldsboro’s Ta’Korrie Faison found himself running down the sideline with nothing but the basketball hoop in front of him.
“To be honest, I was really thinking about if I should windmill or should I just keep it a basic, and I kept it basic because I didn’t want to mess up the floor or anything.” Faison said.
Faison’s thunderous dunk nearly blew the roof off the Norvell T. Lee Gymnasium, and it served as the perfect exclamation point for the Cougars’ 84-62 win against the Warriors.
He finished the game with 40 points, 23 rebounds, and five three-pointers, while the Cougars have now won eight of their past nine games.
“He’s figuring it out,” Croom said Faison. “He’s got good touch, and he’s got a good feel for the game, and he’s just on this stage now where he’s showing it.”
Goldsboro raced out to a 10-3 lead to start the game, but Eastern Wayne responded and cut Goldsboro’s lead down to 23-20.
However, Faison’s and-one put Goldsboro ahead 26-20 after eight minutes.
Faison gave Goldsboro a 38-28 lead late in the second quarter. Eastern Wayne hung around, and a basket from Albert Brown made it 40-37, but the Cougars still led 45-40 at halftime.
“Eastern Wayne attacked us, and they got after it,” Croom said. “They put us in situations where they forced us to hit jump shots in the first half,” Croom said. “Kudos to those guys for giving us a tough push. It’s a rivalry game, so when you’re talking records, all of that stuff goes out the window.”
Goldsboro opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run. Eastern Wayne managed to trim the deficit down to 60-53, but at that point, the Cougars pounced on the Warriors.
Faison scored five straight points to give the Cougars a 65-63 lead at the end of the third quarter. The Cougars started off the fourth quarter with an 11-1 run that sealed the win.
“It’s always good. It’s something that the county looks forward to, so it’s always good when we’re on the winning side,” Croom said.
Goldsboro (10-4, 5-0 NSC) heads to Beddingfield on Friday, while Eastern Wayne (6-11, 2-3) travels to Princeton (6-4, 3-1).
