WINDSOR – The fire-alarms in the gymnasium work very well at Bertie Middle School.

So well, in fact, that their piercing electronic shrieks went off twice Tuesday night during basketball games between Bertie Senior High and Edenton Holmes, and caused delays in play.

The final time was during the boys’ varsity game, and it may’ve been the wake-up alarm – on a different home floor for one-night only - that the Falcons needed.

Bertie rallied in the fourth quarter, erased a four-point deficit, and captured their third Northeastern Coastal Conference win of the season, 57-52, over the visiting Aces.

&uot;After all the drama we’ve been through this year it’s good to get a win,&uot; said a smiling and dapper coach Calvin Moore, shaking his head from side to side sitting on the bleachers after the game.

&uot;Not a lot was said at halftime, except I told the players to respect the program.&uot;

Playing without senior Desmond Williams, underclassmen Darrien Poulson and Tyson Perry helped ignite the comeback.

Perry finished with a career-high 26 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, while  Poulson added seven off the bench including a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter that helped jump-start the Bertie offense.

Brandon Brown, who finished with 11 points, got things rolling for Bertie as he hit his first two jump shots and staked the Falcons to a 4-0 lead to open the game. But Edenton came roaring back thanks to Darnell Spears and Scott Hall; who rallied the Aces to a 13-9 lead after the first quarter of play.

It was 23-15 in favor of Edenton with four minutes to go in the second quarter when the fire alarm sent fans covering their ears and a few seeking relief in the lobby area. Normality was restored in the gym five minutes later as the whining sound ceased, but hardly on the court as the Aces upped their lead to 10 at 25-25, and cruised into the half with a 31-19 lead.

&uot;I thought I’d played everybody in the first half,&uot; said Moore, &uot;but (assistant) coach (Tony Hoggard) reminded me that I didn’t, so the player I put in during the third quarter helped us with those two big threes.&uot;

That player was Poulson, at five-foot-four the shortest player on the team. After being blocked on a drive to the basket, with the Falcons down, 41-24, the little-giant on his next possession quietly backed beyond the 19-foot-nine inch line and coolly drained a three-pointer.

He never made another drive to the basket the rest of the night.  Another three-pointer later, and Bertie was down eleven at 41-30.

Switching to a tight man-to-man defense,  and 6’-7” center Travis Bond clogging the middle, Brown, Perry, and DeQuan Williams made several jumpers and lay-ups off steals and the third quarter ended with the Falcons trailing just 45-40.

Edenton kept misfiring from the perimeter to open the fourth quarter, as Bond’s presence in the middle made the paint off-limits to the Aces. Then Moore turned up his defense and following a steal and lay-up by Perry with five and a half minutes remaining, the Falcons took a lead they never relinquished. 

Fouled on drives to the hoop, Bertie made 7-of-9 free throws, and their defense limited Edenton to just seven points in the quarter. With 52 seconds left, Poulson made a steal, wove his way through defenders and hit Williams on the wing for a jumper and a 57-50 lead.  Edenton made one more field goal, but Bertie by then had secured the five-point win.

&uot;We’ve dug a hole and know we need to win the conference tournament to have a shot at the playoffs,&uot; said Moore. &uot;Hopefully this will give us some momentum, and with determination, all the crabs out there might not be strong enough to pull us down.&uot;

The Falcons (6-13) travel to Barco to meet Currituck Friday night, the close out the regular season a week from Friday in Ahoskie against Hertford County.

 

Bertie (57): Tyson Perry – 26, Brandon Brown – 11, DeQuan Williams – 8, Darrien Poulson – 7, Anthony Murray – 3, Travis Bond – 2.

Edenton (52): Scott Hall – 21, Darnell Spears – 13, Thomas Vaughn – 13, Dorian Holley – 5.