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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Last year for the freshman team, Gavin Williams peaked at 31 points and averaged 21 for coach Mike Dinkins. Look at what he did in his junior varsity debut at West Wilkes on Nov. 23. He had, fittingly enough, 21 points to lead a 59-43 victory in Tracey Arnold’s Davie coaching debut.
Williams was electric in the first half, scoring 15. Five of his six baskets for the game were 3-pointers.
“He played a really good first half,” Arnold said. “He carried us for a stretch in the first half. He couldn’t find his shot in the second half because he was having to play in (Ian Koontz’s) spot in the high post (because Koontz was in foul trouble), and we couldn’t get it to him. He got out of rhythm.”
Davie led comfortably at halftime, 38-27, as Carter Helton, Braddock Coleman and Cam Ball supplemented Williams’ hot start. The Blackhawks never seriously threatened in the second half.
But still, Arnold detected shortcomings.
“It was a win, but I was disappointed in the way we played,” he said. “We played sloppy. We had a lot of turnovers (15). We practiced bad Monday and it carried over. We had some defensive breakdowns.”
Davie lost Koontz to early foul trouble. It compensated by making 12 of 33 3-point shots. Helton (three 3s) and Coleman (two 3s) helped the War Eagles outscore West 36-15 from long range.
“Ian picked up three fouls in the first quarter, so that hurt us and we didn’t get much on the inside,” he said. “The 3-point line carried us.”
Helton had 13 points, Coleman eight, Ball seven, Sebastian Bellomo four, Luke Clark three and Koontz three.
“We played good enough to get the win, and we’ve got something to build on,” he said.