HOLLY SPRINGS – Fuquay-Varina (5-14, 3-9) jumped on Holly Springs early on Thursday night to build a 10-0 lead to start the Tri-9 conference game. Then, the Bengals played a well-rounded game the rest of the way to win 60-41 on the road.

Keith Watson and Dominique Byrd scored 12 points apiece and Drew Robinson added eight as Fuquay was able to break the Golden Hawks full court pressure for layups and fouls. On defense, the Bengals mixed in some zone defense to keep Holly Springs off balance.

Fuquay coach, Randy Barrow said his team has been very competitive and very close to more wins despite their record. He was glad to see things fall into place at Holly Springs.

“The guys are starting to understand their roles, and understand the job that they have to do,” Barrow said. “It comes from challenging each other in practice. After the Panther Creek win in overtime - that just sealed it for us. We knew that we could finally win these games. We’d been playing close and playing close and playing close; then (the players) finally realized that they could win those games.”

Six-foot-six inch junior, Dominique Byrd said Thursday night was about more than just winning a single game. “We’ve been going harder in practice than we have ever before,” Byrd said. “We’ve been working hard to try to change the way things have been going and try to change the program.”

Barrow said the team’s poise and confidence is showing as the Bengals made 22 of 24 free throws for the game and 12 of 14 in the fourth quarter. Fuquay never panicked against the Holly Springs pressure, in front of a big, loud Golden Hawks crowd.

“We lost the Cary game by one and shot 8-for-23 from the line,” Barrow said. “We’ve struggled from the line all year, and tonight it clicked. They had the confidence to step up and knock those down.”

Holly Springs (6-14, 4-9) closed the gap in the second quarter to enter halftime down 22-15, but the Bengals maintained the lead in the third quarter and pulled away in the fourth. Jimmy Evans led the Golden Hawks with 14 points. Quentin Underwood scored nine and LaCurtis Latimore added eight.

“Well we started the game off down 10-0,” Holly Springs coach, Thurman Jordan said. “We missed a lot of easy opportunities early on. Our shots weren’t falling and (Fuquay) did a great job executing and scoring baskets. They played smart defense, packing it in and making us hit shots. We just weren’t able to do it to get started. And down the stretch, we got cold again.”