Photos by Erik Spencer Hill | The Stokes News
West Stokes’ Alston Furr catches a pass from Tanner Lomax and takes it to the hoop for a slam dunk in Tuesday night’s game against Winston-Salem Prep. Furr had 29 points in the game.
Wildcat Josh Spainhour looks to pass the ball through Phoenix defenders in the first half.
Lady Wildcat Leah Smith goes up to block Shakurya Michaux shot in the second half.
WINSTON-SALEM - For the second time in a season, the Wildcats narrowly came up short against Winston-Salem Prep’s Phoenix on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats held the lead well into the third quarter, but the Phoenix came away with the game in a thrilling fourth quarter. Prep won the game 71-66 and remains undefeated in the conference.
In the first quarter, the Wildcats trailed behind the Phoenix 14-11.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Alston Furr tied the game up with a 3-pointer. Furr exploded and put three more 3-pointers in the basket to help the Wildcats close out the quarter with a 31-22 lead.
Zach Hartle opened up the third quarter with a jumper, which brought the score to 35-24.
Prep’s Aaron Lipscomb nailed a 3-pointer, which helped to shrink the Phoenix deficit to eight points.
Wildcat Tanner Lomax broke past defenders and fired off a pass to Alston Furr, who went into flight with the ball and slammed one into the basket - which put Wildcat fans into a roar of cheers.
But, Prep inched ahead with the lead 51-50 at the end of the third.
Furr fought to tie the game up with a jumper, which brought the score to 53-53.
Then, the Phoenix hit some shots down the final stretch of the game to grab back the lead.
With less than 10 seconds left in the game, Spainhour hit a 3-pointer, which shrank the Wildcat deficit to a mere three points (69-66).
But, the Phoenix flew away with the game in the final moments on free throws, as the Wildcats tried to nab the ball for one last play. Prep ended the game with a 71-66 win.
Wildcats Coach Dan Spainhour said that his team needed more “stops” in the game. Still, he said that his team played with intensity in a “hot, emotional game.”
“I was proud of my kids,” he said.
The top scorers for the Wildcats were Alston Furr (29 pts.), Reid Goodson (18 pts.) and Josh Spainhour (14 pts.).
Girls
The Lady Phoenix got their revenge on the Wildcats on Tuesday night. After losing to the Wildcats earlier in the season, the the Phoenix sailed to a 54-44 victory.
Lady Wildcats Coach James Holleman said that his team missed some “easy shots” during the game and did not get enough rebounds.
“We could have won tonight, but we didn’t finish,” he said. “We didn’t want it as bad as they did.”
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