The following (2) two articles come to us from the Goldsboro News-Argus in North Carolina. Pickin’ Splinters’ Patrick Reynell is doing the Pine proud.

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Beast of the East: Cougars’ defense smothers Patriots

GREENVILLE — Defense wins championships.

And Goldsboro’s man-to-man pressure resulted in gold.

The Cougars coerced Pender’s guards into uncharacteristic mistakes and efficiently converted the miscues into pivotal points during their 58-48 victory in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A eastern regional men’s basketball title game Saturday afternoon.

Goldsboro (23-7 overall) advanced to the state final next Saturday against Monroe (31-1) at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill. Game time is 2:30 p.m.

RaSean Brewington, the regional’s Most Valuable Player, shared game-high scoring honors (20 points) with 6-foot-10 Pender center Keynan Pittman. Fellow Cougar Devonte White contributed 10 points and picked the Patriots for five steals.

Demetrio Irby and all-tournament pick James Williams supplied nine and seven points, respectively, in limited roles due to foul trouble. Matt Woodard provided six points off the bench and collected two of the Cougars’ 13 steals in the contest.

Pender (27-2) lost in the regional final for the second consecutive year. The Patriots committed a season- and playoff-high 28 turnovers, which led to 22 Cougar points.

“I think defensively because we were in their hip pocket all night, we forced them to rush,” said Cougars head coach Patrick Reynell. “A lot of turnovers was exactly them rushing because of the pressure. Watching them play against the zone, they’re not a 3-point shooting team.

“They’ll catch the ball on the reversal, spot up and shoot, and we wanted to avoid that. We wanted them to put the ball on the floor. I think our defensive intensity in the fourth quarter was the key.”

Indeed.

Goldsboro hounded Pender’s guards with a jump-trap scheme near the halfcourt line. The strategy resulted in a couple of turnovers that turned into baskets and brought a solid contingent of Cougar fans to life inside Williams Arena.

Brewington benefited from the first two miscues. He drained two free throws and then buried a 3-pointer, his third of the game, off an assist from White.

“The play was set up for me to shoot a 3,” said Brewington. “I made it and we gained some intensity off that play. (We) got a couple of steals, got more intensity and we just picked up the defense from there.”

White’s free throw off a turnover and Brewington’s driving layup against Pittman extended the Cougars’ lead to 42-37 two minutes into the final period. Pender closed within 42-40 before Brewington hit a free throw and Irby knocked down a reverse layup from the baseline.

Pittman’s offensive putback trimmed the deficit to 45-42.

Goldsboro pushed the ball downcourt and set up in its spread offense. Irby constantly found the mismatches and

Pender’s guards slowly fouled out one by one as exasperated Patriot fans roared their disapproval behind their team’s bench.

The Cougars hit 12 of 14 free throws in the final 104 seconds to secure their first trip to the state championship game since 2003. Reynell’s team finished 22 of 37 from the charity stripe after missing eight free throws in the third quarter.

“I know what that was. I stopped watching,” said Reynell. “I turned around, and let the crowd let me know if we missed it or made it. I no longer coach free throws.”

The teams battled through five lead changes during the first three quarters. Goldsboro grabbed an eight-point advantage after the first eight minutes, but Pender erased the deficit with an eight-point run in the second quarter.

The Cougars led 27-23 at halftime.

Goldsboro beats Weldon in eastern regional semifinal

GREENVILLE — “Poised and focused” has become Goldsboro High’s calling card during the 2010 postseason.

The Cougars just don’t seem to get rattled these days.

State-ranked Weldon seized a two-possession advantage throughout the early stages of the second half, but could never pull away.

Goldsboro, once again, orchestrated another fourth-quarter comeback. The Cougars aggressively attacked the basket, buried key free throws and turned back the Chargers 59-55 in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A eastern regional semifinals Wednesday evening.

Rasean Brewington led all scorers with 22 points and catapulted Goldsboro (22-7 overall) into the eastern championship for the first time since 2003, and seventh time overall in program history. The Cougars face the winner of today’s Pender-Perquimans game at 11 a.m. Saturday inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on the ECU campus.

James Williams complemented Brewington with a double-double — 11 points and 17 rebounds. Devonte White added eight points for the Cougars, who extended their win streak to 11 games.

Weldon, ranked No. 5 in the latest NCpreps.com poll, constantly hawked Goldsboro with fullcourt pressure throughout the opening half. The scheme forced turnovers and kept Reynell’s team from executing its normal penetrating-style offense.

The teams battled through six lead changes until the Chargers, the 2009 regional champions, grabbed a slim 28-25 halftime lead.

“Their press, we went over how to break it the whole week (in practice),” said Goldsboro senior guard Demetrio Irby.

“The court (length) in the first half kind of got us off (mentally), but the second half we went straight through the press.”

The Cougars countered the traps by spreading the defense and hitting outlet passes near the midcourt stripe. The strategy created a much-needed transition game and Goldsboro constantly drew fouls on drives to the basket.

Three of Weldon biggest players — 6-foot-5 forward Willis McGee, 6-5 center Nehemiah Pulley and 6-2 center Kyman Northington — all fouled out. The trio combined for 17 points and 28 rebounds. It was the final prep game for Pulley and Northington.

“We did a really good job of keeping bodies out of the paint and were able to tip balls to ourselves. That was important,” said Goldsboro coach Patrick Reynell. “We knew they were big and physical, and we knew we couldn’t let them bury us underneath that basket with rebounds and easy putbacks.”

White gave the Cougars a slight advantage, 42-38, on a 3-pointer off Corteiz Sprangle’s assist to open the fourth quarter. The Chargers tied the game at 45-45 on Cameron Staten’s driving layup, but couldn’t overcome its foul trouble.

Goldsboro drained 9 of 12 free throws during the next four-plus minutes. Matt Woodard’s two charity shots provided the Cougars’ biggest lead, 56-50, with 1:47 left in regulation.

Weldon pulled within 57-55 on Ramon Peterson’s basket with 22.5 seconds to go. The teams traded possessions before the Chargers missed three shots within the closing seconds that could have forced overtime. Williams knocked down the game-clinching free throw with 1.9 seconds on the clock.

“We kind of get a feel for what they do in the first half and really attack them mentally in the second half, and play within ourselves,” said Reynell. “We’ve had that second-half poise all season, especially this time of year when you don’t have a scouting report and have to adjust on the fly.

“They did a wonderful job of that tonight.”

Pictures from the regional semi-final

Pictures from the Eastern championship

More pictures

The following comes to us courtesy of Andrew Stevens at The Goldsboro News Argus

What Patrick Reynell lacks in head coaching experience he more than makes up for with desire.

The former assistant at Charles B. Aycock has been named the new varsity boys’ basketball coach at Goldsboro High. Reynell is the program’s third head coach in the past three seasons and eighth overall since the Dave Odom era.

Reynell’s hiring ended a five-month search to replace Chris Cherry, who resigned after one season to become the head coach at South Central. Cherry’s departure caused trust issues among the players who are eager to play for a coach who wants to be there.

“The first thing I remember reading in the article when coach Cherry resigned was I remember one of the players saying ‘We want somebody here who wants to coach us, and we know we can be good … we just need a coach we can trust,’” said Reynell. “My heart just went out to those kids. I student taught at a school in Philadelphia that was a lot like Goldsboro, so I understand what those kids go through.”

“I’m going to give them ample time to build trust in me and do it through my actions.”

A native of Rochester (N.Y.), Reynell played basketball at Spencerport (N.Y.) High School and was a captain during his senior year. After attending Temple University, Reynell began working at Aycock. He taught English and had been an assistant basketball coach since 2004.

During his first two seasons as an assistant, Reynell soaked in all he could learn from head coach David West before being handed the reigns to the Golden Falcons’ defense. He devised defensive game plans during practice, called defensive plays during games and scouted opponents.

“After two years, coach West took me aside and asked me to take over our defense and that really prepared me more than anything,” said Reynell. “I told my kids at CBA that defense starts with hustle. This past year we pressed a lot and I told my kids we’re not always going to get into a trap and force a turnover.

“It’s what you do in recovery. It’s useless if we don’t learn to understand how to recover and fill passing lanes.”
Reynell inherits a team that went 19-9 last season, won the Eastern Plains 2-A Conference regular-season title and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs. The Cougars return all but four seniors off last year’s team, including second and third leading scorers Demetrio Irby and Rasean Brewington.
Goldsboro begins play in the Carolina 1-A Conference this season.

“That’s a benefit to me and whoever will be on the coaching staff,” said Reynell. “There will hopefully be a lot of things I won’t have to necessarily re-teach. I know coach (Tod) Morgan and coach Cherry were both excellent coaches. It made me feel better about this job and excited that there’s a lot of guys with game time and varsity experience.”

One of those returners with varsity experience is junior guard Devonte White. White was vocal about the potential fallout when Cherry stepped down in May, but was quick to point to the numerous upsides of Reynell’s hiring.
“He’s coming into a great situation,” said White. “We have a very mature team on varsity. We’re ready to do almost anything and we want to get our name out there and bring back our school’s tradition. “

“I know some guys that played for him at Aycock and they told me he’s a good coach to trust, and if you put your faith in him you can win a lot of games.”