Rams clinch third in Coastal Conference

HAVELOCK -- Havelock’s Tyquan Nolan felt a strange sensation when he stepped on the court against West Carteret Tuesday night.

“I was nervous at the beginning. I don’t know why,” Nolan said.

The senior quickly calmed down, scoring 22 points to lead the Rams to an 86-61 Coastal 3A Conference victory in his final regular-season home game.

Junior Zack Bruns scored Havelock’s first six points before Nolan found his rhythm by knocking down a 3-pointer that helped the Rams open a 16-6 lead after the first quarter.

“The first one (3-pointer), I air-balled,” Nolan said. “The second one, I hit that, and I said ‘OK, here we go.’”

And go the Rams did. Havelock’s full-court press never allowed West Carteret to get into a rhythm. Pharoh Cooper came up with a couple of layups off steals sandwiched around another Nolan 3-pointer as Havelock ran out to a 29-12 lead midway through the second quarter. The Rams led 38-22 at halftime.

“We got some baskets off our press,” Havelock coach Bill Fryczynski said. “I think that’s what got our momentum going.”

In the third quarter, Nolan converted a 3-point play, and Bruns and Bryant Searcy hit back-to-back 3-pointers, helping the Rams stretch the lead to 55-29 midway through the period.

“They just didn’t have an answer for us,” Fryczynski said. “We were excited. We were up for this.”

Havelock led 65-40 after three quarters, and the teams basically traded baskets the rest of the way.

“I think we played good,” Nolan said. “We started off a little slow, but we picked it up.”

Despite never seriously challenging for the victory, West Carteret did get a game-high 30 points from Eli Blake. The junior, who scored 14 of West Carteret’s 16 points in the second quarter, controlled the paint for most of the night.

“The only thing we didn’t do was stop Blake,” Fryczynski said. “That’s the only thing we did wrong. We couldn’t guard him.”

Bruns tallied 18 points, while Cooper added 16 and Shondel Granison nine for Havelock.

With the victory, Havelock (12-8, 9-4) clinched a winning season and will enter the Coastal 3A Conference tournament next week as the No. 3 seed.

“I enjoyed this win,” Fryczynski said. “This locked up a winning season, but I want them not to be satisfied. We’ve got to try to close this out. I want them to be competitive.”

The Rams next take on West Craven at 8 p.m. Thursday at West Craven. The Rams challenged the once-beaten Eagles earlier this year before falling 66-57.

“We’re going over there on their senior night,” Fryczynski said. “They’re a really good team. I don’t think it’s any secret that we’re going to try to slow the game down, and hope for the best. If we shoot well, I think we’ve got a shot at them.”

Havelock 86,

West Carteret 61

W. Carteret 6 16 18 21 –61

Havelock 16 22 27 21 –86

West Carteret (86)
Eli Blake 30, Dontarius Collins 15, Anthony Windley 6, Jeremy Broddy 5, Jared Carr 2, Khaliq Spencer 2, Michael James 1

Havelock (86)

Tyquan Nolan 22, Zach Bruns 18, Pharoh Cooper 16, Shondel Granison 9, Bryant Searcy 6, P.J. Simmons 6, Will Blythe 5, Matt Prichard 4.