Knights work overtime to obtain region victory

LANGLEY - The difference one season can make can be seen in Aiken Tech's on-court maturity.

The Knights blew a late eight-point lead Saturday night, but rallied in overtime for a 73-67 win over Rockingham Community College.

Aiken Tech improved to 11-3 overall and 4-0 in Region 10 play. The Knights, who won by five Friday night over Lenoir Community College, notched their seventh win in eight outings.

After finishing last season 15-16, Aiken Tech has emerged as a major player in its region. The main reason? Eight sophomores, compared with one last year.

"There's a lot of maturity," sophomore guard Corey Johnson said. "We kind of feed off each other. We have a good bond with each other. This year being our second year, we're closer together."

The close-knit bunch has managed to fill up the basket, averaging 86 points per game entering Friday. The Knights were also blowing out opponents to a tune of almost 13 points per game.

But teams have started to figure out how to slow down the Knights. Such was the case against Rockingham (10-7, 0-3), which played a zone defense the entire game.

Aiken Tech drowned nine 3-pointers, but struggled to score inside. Even with an extra 5-minute overtime period, the Knights were held 13 points below their average.

"Everybody's coming zone now," second-year Aiken Tech coach Bruce Capers said. "The first half of the season, everybody played man, and that's when we were beating up on people pretty good. ... I'll be glad when someone comes here and plays man-to-man defense.

"We just have to get better against teams that play zone."

Aiken Tech broke open a close game late as Tavaris Little popped a 3-pointer from the wing. Then Johnson pulled up to hit another 3-pointer. The Knights led 64-56 with 2:48 remaining,

Rockingham's Josh Phillips responded with a 3-pointer. Ryan Fairly added another 3-pointer. Corey McKinney then hit a game-tying layup with 27 seconds remaining.

Capers set up an isolation play for Johnson to win the game. But Phillips stripped Johnson on a drive to the basket to send the game into overtime.

From there, the Knights' defense took over, making four steals and holding the Eagles to no field goals. Little's 3-pointer with 24 seconds left sealed the win.

Little scored a game-high 22 points, while Johnson added 17 and Shondre Guest put in 10.

"I've got to give them credit," Johnson said. "They came in here not intimidated by us. They played us tough.

"But I also want to credit to my teammates. We stayed in there and played tough. This is good, because we're going to run up against this down the stretch."

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.