Warriors' season ends with 109-97 loss
July 3, 2009 - World Basketball Association (WBA)
Cartersville Warriors News Release
The Cartersville Warriors (8-5) saw their 2009 season come to an end Thursday with a 109-97 loss to the Buford Majic in the semifinals of the World Basketball Association playoffs at Bogan Park in Buford.
Cartersville stayed with Buford through the opening 10-minute period, but the Majic (10-1) - who won the WBA's regular-season title - put together an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take a 14-point lead into the halftime break.
Things got worse for the Warriors in the third quarter, though. Buford came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders and stretched its lead to 25 points going into the fourth period. Cartersville was able to close to within nine points in the final frame, but Buford was able to hold off the Warriors to advance to Friday's championship game against the Tupelo Rock-N-Rollers.
"The third quarter was the worst quarter we've played this season, both in terms of the defense we played and the turnovers we had on the offensive end," said Cartersville head coach Cory Baldwin. "We fought back and had a chance to get closer, but we missed a couple of 3-pointers and Buford never let us have another chance at it."
Darnell Cox led Cartersville with 29 points. Chucky Ryerson tossed in 25 and Justin Billingslea had 12 for the Warriors. B.J. Puckett was Buford's high scorer with 30 points and Marcus Brown netted 19 for the Majic in the win.
Baldwin said there were several bright spots in the Warriors' season.
"We had a core group of six or seven guys that were with us all year and they all played well for us," said Baldwin. "We had a different guy step up for us each night and the team as a whole was unselfish. We were one of the better defensive teams in the league as well."
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World Basketball Association Stories from July 3, 2009
- Warriors' season ends with 109-97 loss - Cartersville Warriors
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