Sampson Middle School, which had been on a roll while remaining undefeated, finally took its first loss of the season last week against Roseboro-Salemburg (RS) Middle, losing by one point. With a massive amount of turnovers they couldn’t make up for it going down by the narrowest of margins, 40-39.
“We defended them good enough to win, but when you have 28 turnovers that is hard to overcome. I put that on me, I didn’t have my team prepared, Congratulations to RS,” said head coach Ron Davis. “They matched our intensity and played really hard.”
Though they had many turnovers they managed to keep the game close the entire time despite giving the ball up so much. They trailed at the end of the first quarter by three with RS going for 14 and Sampson right on their heels with 11.
Events turned around in the second for Sampson when they tied the game up their defense being the main cause as it has been all year. Preventing RS from even reaching half of its previous quarters performance they were allowed only four. Meanwhile Sampson went for seven, with the end of the first half the game was dead even at 18-18.
RS was the better team out of the break outscoring Sampson Middle by two points to take back the lead. Going for double digits again with 11, Sampson was only able to score nine thus fell behind 29-27.
Then in the fourth they just couldn’t rally to take the win failing to get that last point to at least tie the game. Adding twelve points to RS 13 they suffered their first loss by a close margin.
Nick Smith continues to play well leading in all scoring again ending this contest with 17 points on the night.
“Thanks to everyone in the bleachers. That gym was loud and it’s a lot of fun to play in front of a large crowd. We will practice over the holiday and be ready to go after the break,” concluded Davis.