Greene Central’s Hysaan Hudson tries to go for a basket under duress from Farmville Central’s Terquavion Smith in Friday’s game. Photo by William “Bud” Hardy / Neuse News

By Scott Cole

The Greene Central Rams were hoping to bounce back after a hard loss to South Central on Tuesday. They traveled to Farmville to play the Jaguars in a non-conference game on Friday evening. The gym was packed as these two local titans of the court faced off in a rivalry as intense as any conference game would be.

It was a hard fought game, but the Jaguars would pull away before halftime and a dominating third quarter would shut the door on the Rams. Farmville took the contest, 65-45. The Jags would make 13 steals as they frustrated the Rams offense. Dodd would come close to a triple double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and eight blocks.

“Our defense won this game for us,” Farmville coach Larry Williford said. “We played outstanding defense. We stole the ball well. We rebounded well. Greene is a team that you can’t let control the boards. If you do, you are in trouble. We have a chance to have a really good team this year if we can continue to play like we did tonight.”

This game started off as if they were two prize fighters facing off for a championship belt.  There was not a lot of scoring as each team tried to feel each other out. The Jags would take an early lead when Terquavion Smith hit a long three from the left side.  As the first quarter waned, the two teams traded points and traded the lead. Farmville would escape the first with a 14-13 lead.

“This is a major rivalry against a really good team.” Greene coach Theodore Edwards said. “We gave all that we had tonight and so did they. We had a lot of strong players graduate and we are still working people into the system.”

At the start of the second, three Farmville players tried but couldn’t put in a layup. Hysaan Hudson grabbed the rebound, flipped it up the court, and found Dodd who reverse dunked it and fired the Greene visitors up. A minute later, Farmville’s Dyquavius Wilkins responded with a high flying rebounding dunk to tie the game up at 19 each. Smith would record another dunk for Farmville as the Jaguars began to pull away near the end of the period.

Tempers began to flare up between the two teams as a few players received technical fouls. The high emotions seemed to drain the Rams and invigorate the Jaguars. Farmville would hold a 32-21 lead at halftime and would build on that lead coming back.  Jags would hold a 47-30 lead after the third quarter as Greene’s shots kept falling flat.

“You can play with energy, but not with emotions,” Coach Edwards said. “Emotion will drain you if you are not careful. These kids play with each other in the summer and they know each other. This is an intense rivalry and things will get heated, but you have to play smart.”

Dodd would dunk again to start the fourth as way to jump start his team. Dodd would score the first eight points of the final frame in the first two minutes of the quarter, including another powerful dunk. His efforts rallied the Rams which would go on a 12-2 run to start the fourth. However, foul trouble would bite the Rams. Then, Farmville received from dunks from Smith and Rande Harper. Greene’s rally would fall short as the Jaguars kept piling on shots until the final buzzer blared. Smith would end the game with 22 points while Justin Wright would add 16 for the Jags.

Despite the loss, Coach Edwards is not worried yet. “It’s a long season. We don’t need to panic yet. It’s good to get the guys exposed in a game like this so we can see what we need to improve on so we can get better as the season goes on.”

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Rams 13 8 9 18 45
Jaguars 14 18 15 17 65

Rams: Imaje Dodd 17, Donte Johnson 8, Hysaan Hudson 5, Lamar Pridgen 4, Zach Taylor 4, Kentrell Suggs 3, BJ Corbitt 2, Zakvil Smith 2

Jaguars: Terquavion Smith 22, Justin Wright 16, Samage Teel 7, Rande Harper 6, Dyquavius Wilkins 5, Rashae Owens 4, Leontae Moye 2, Dantavious Short 2