RALEIGH -- After Millbrook nearly upset one of the big-ticket teams - Marietta (Ga.) Walton - in the early-afternoon action, things looked up for Durham Riverside and Garner.
But the Triangle area squads in the Monday night action of the Shavlik Randolph Foundation bracket of the GlaxoSmithKline Invitational fell behind by double digits in the first half and never got the spark they needed.
Kinston dominated a young Garner team for a 73-46 victory, and Harlem Rice (N.Y.) topped Riverside 75-55. Walton edged Millbrook 61-60 in the day's first game.
N.C. State recruit Ryan Harrow and Walton will take on North Carolina recruit Reggie Bullock and Kinston in the opening Randolph semifinal today at 7:20 p.m.
Rice meets Enloe, which advanced to the Randolph Foundation semifinals with a win over Cardinal Gibbons on Saturday, at 9 p.m.
Bullock had a solid double-double in Kinston's decisive victory over Garner. The 6-foot-7 standout finished with 30 points (on just 20 shots) and 13 rebounds.
The Vikings led 21-8 after a quarter, but Garner pulled to 29-21 midway through the second quarter on a Stephon Drane bucket. Kinston went on to score 26 of the game's next 37 points.
Kinston's whirlwind schedule had the Vikings back in Raleigh from Hawaii on Christmas Eve. The jet lag showed, coach Wells Gulledge said.
"I think we still had coconuts on the brain and were just stagnant in the first half," Gulledge said.
The Vikings' active man-to-man defense, size and bulk made everything hard on the offensive end for a Trojans team that features just four seniors, none of whom played major roles on last year's Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference championship squad. Western Kentucky recruit Drane, who played at Word of God last season, had a team-high 14 points for Garner. Donald Johnson added 13 for the Trojans, and Kinston's Dallas Best had 12.
"That was just a good, old-fashioned butt-whipping," Garner coach Eddie Gray said. "We started two sophomores, and in some ways we regressed back to the start of the season. We haven't played since Dec. 15 and were on a bit of a roll then."
Also Monday
Rice (N.Y.) 75, Durham Riverside 55: Rice (5-1) used its pressure to pull ahead of Durham Riverside in the second quarter, outscoring the Pirates 24-12 in the frame, on the way to a 20-point victory.
The Raiders went with a bigger lineup for more of the game than they had in their previous five outings.
"We've been working hard at getting better with bigger players on the court," Rice coach Maurice Hicks said. "We've had some trouble dealing with smaller teams than us so far, but we're getting better. For a lot of the time today, we had four guys 6-4 or 6-5 on the floor."
Six-foot-8 sophomore Kadeem Jack hit on eight of his 11 field goal attempts and finished with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. Dashawn Suber and Jermaine Sanders had 13 each.
Riverside, which suffered its first loss, couldn't find the mark on key buckets after it fell behind. The Pirates' first 3-pointer came early in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 60-46. They hit another with 5:39 to play -- by Sean Deniton -- to get to 63-51 but scored just four points the rest of the way.
"We just couldn't get that big shot when we needed it," Pirates coach Tim Ross said. "This is the worst we've shot from the field all season. "
Sophomore T.J. Warren led Riverside with 20 points. Deniton added 11.
Marietta (Ga.) Walton 61, Millbrook 60: Walton stunned the Glaxo crowd by scoring eight points in the final 25 seconds of the third quarter, but such rallies aren't unexpected by the Raiders.
"We were once down by about 20 with two minutes left and won," said Walton's G'Mitri Rice, who scored the winning basket.
Walton's ability to come back accounted for the win, but the buzz among the crowd for much of the day was the 35 points from N.C. State recruit Ryan Harrow.
Raiders coach Joe Goydish said Harrow, who averages 37 points, didn't play as well as usual , missing all five of his 3-point attempts, but Goydish had nothing but praise for his team's effort and grittiness. He praised Millbrook's defense for dictating the game's pace.
The Wildcats seemed in good shape with a 45-37 lead with 25 seconds left in the third period, but Harrow scored seven points and Lanerryl Johnson added another bucket for a 46-45 Walton lead entering the fourth.
Millbrook again seemed close to scoring an upset with a 58-53 lead with 2:20 left, but Harrow scored six straight for a 59-58 lead with 1:33 remaining.
Danny Mizerk twisted around two defenders to give Millbrook a 60-59 lead with 41 seconds left, and Millbrook got the ball back with the lead with 30 seconds left after forcing a jump ball. Walton stole the ball, one of 12 in the game, but Rice missed a dunk. Harrow ended up with the ball and fed Rice, who made the layup.
"I knew he'd make this one after missing that dunk," Harrow said.
Millbrook raced downcourt, but Walton's Braylon Williams intercepted a pass, and the game was over.
"We had 24 turnovers and still had a chance to win the game," Millbrook coach Scott McInnes said. "I can't say too much about the way our kids competed."
