By Dennis Burton
Correspondent
RALEIGH – Garrius Adams scored a game-high 23 points Wednesday night at Enloe High School, but it wasn’t enough to push Middle Creek into the second round of the NCHSAA 4A playoffs. The Eagles used a big fourth quarter to bounce the Mustangs 62-50 in front of a raucous capacity crowd.
“For three and a half quarters we played pretty good,” Middle Creek coach David Kushner said.
After an even first quarter – 20-20 – and a back-and-fourth second, the Mustangs took a 32-31 lead into halftime. Both teams struggled a bit offensively in the third quarter, but Middle Creek outscored Enloe
7-6 to push its lead to two heading into the final eight minutes.
“You could see the effort out there for both teams,” Eagles coach Tommy Moore said. “Our hats off to (Middle Creek). They played their tails off.”
With six minutes remaining and the Mustangs leading 43-39, the tide turned in Enloe’s favor. The Eagles’ D.J. Rich hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Adams failed to convert on a drive to the basket during the possession in between. The Middle Creek faithful in attendance expressed their displeasure loudly when no foul was called.
Enloe never trailed again.
“I wouldn’t say we lost our composure after that, but their crowd got into the game and we rushed things a little,” Kushner said. “We did some things that were uncharacteristic for us. Then we got into a running game again with them that we didn’t want to be in.”
Turnovers played a role down the stretch. The Mustangs coughed up the ball 16 times compared to just five for the Eagles.
“It seemed like our turnovers always led to points,” Kushner said.
Enloe pulled away late at the free-throw line. Junior center Melvin Tabb, who had 15 points in the first half and has already committed to Wake Forest, knocked down a couple from the charity stripe in the waning moments and finished with 21 to go along with 13 rebounds.
“I can’t remember any good player (6-feet-6-inches) or over scoring less than 20 points against us this year,” Kushner said. “(Tabb’s) an ACC player. And he played like it tonight.”
Adams, who's headed to the ACC next year to play for the University of Miami, went toe-to-toe with the slightly taller Tabb at times and held his own.
Even though he seemed more comfortable on the wing, Adams battled in the paint and finished with 11 boards to go along with his big offensive night.
“Garrius was really aggressive tonight,” Kushner said. “I was hoping he would try to get to the line more – and he did get there some – but the refs were letting both teams play out there. But he’s as good a public school player as there is in the state.”
“Garrius Adams is the real deal,” Moore added.
For Adams and fellow senior starter Tom Tankelewicz, who scored six and is headed to Charleston Southern next year, it was a bitter end to a career and a season that saw Middle Creek eclipse the 20-win mark
and finish second in the Tri-8 conference.
Kushner said the postgame speech was a tough one to deliver – especially to the seniors.
“Garrius and Tom were amazing to coach,” he said. “To know I’m not going to be around them anymore is the hardest part of this for me.”
According the coach, though, the future is bright. The Mustangs return a handful of players with considerable experience and expect to compete at the top of the league again next season.
“The two kids with the most tears in their eyes (after the game) were two freshmen,” Kushner said. “That tells you a lot about the kind of kids we have in this program.”
