Bulldogs hit court for Blue-White game

With one year already under its belt, the Pitt Community College basketball team kicked off its second season with its Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage Wednesday afternoon.

In front of a crowd which included the members of the PCC baseball, softball and volleyball teams, the Blue squad edged the White team, 34-28.

“The more times we get to play, get up and down the court and build team chemistry, the better,” PCC assistant coach Art Bane said. “We do have some guys returning from last year since this is our second year and that helps with the chemistry.”

The White squad, led by sophomore forward Stephen Gomola, jumped out to an early 8-2 in the first half. The West Carteret High School alum led all scorers with 11 points.

“It is good to get things started and see how everybody looks,” Gomola said. “We have a lot of great players and the team chemistry is great right now.”

The White team held a 17-12 lead at the intermission with Gomola scoring seven of his points in the first half. But the lead was short-lived.

The Blue team turned the game around in the second half on the back of talented sophomore big man Johnny Godette. With six minutes, 10 seconds left in the game, guard Clint Mixon tossed an electric alley-oop pass that Godette slammed home to give the Blue team a lead it never relinquished.

“We have a great group of guys this year,” Bane said. “We are going to lean on our point guard, Steffen McGahee, and Johnny Godette is one of the premiere big men in our league.”

Godette, a former Havelock standout, finished the day with 10 points while teammate Efkan Eren added eight points for the Blue team.

PCC is led by a solid group of sophomores including Ayden-Grifton alum McGhee, Jacksonville's Damien Williams, Gomola and Godette.

“We had a successful year last year but this year we have a lot more games on our schedule,” Bane said. “We have some freshmen that are going to come in and contribute immediately and we feel confident about our starting five.

“We beat everybody but Patrick Henry last year so we are excited. But we also don't know what to expect from some of these schools we are playing this year.”