The Sampson Middle School basketball team dropped their second consecutive game on Wednesday when they traveled to Midway to take on the Raiders. The Raiders, now 5-0, earned the win by jumping out on the Dark Horses early, before closing the game out with a 51-37 final margin of victory.
Midway forced turnovers early, and broke the Sampson press with ease for the most part, thanks to swift ball-handling from Cameron Barefoot. The Raiders were able to get easy baskets after breaking the Sampson press that has given teams fits for many years.
Midway led 20-7 after Jamarrious Rich knocked down a half-court shot at the first quarter buzzer. They used that momentum to take a 31-17 lead into halftime.
They built a 42-24 lead after 3 quarters. Sampson then caught fire in the final quarter, and knocked down back-to-back 3-point shots, that would cut the lead to 10 at one point.
In the end, the Raiders made enough free throws to hold off any Sampson rally.
Sampson’s head coach Ron Davis took the blame for the loss.
“I have to do a better job of getting my team ready to play,” he remarked. “We have been jumped on early the past two games, and that is on me. I have to do a better job of coaching, and getting the team to play together. The team is a young bunch of boys, and they’re going to come around, but it is going to take some time.”
Midway’s head coach, Josh Bullard really liked the way his team played, and admitted that Barefoot’s ball-handling abilities were key.
“Cameron has been our leader all year, and he was that again today,” said Bullard. “It was a good start for us today, and I thought his ability to dribble out of double teams, get to the rack and finish, and find other people, that was big for us. We also did a good job on the glass, which is something we talked about as well. I am proud of the guys, and we feel good about 5-0 and 2-0 in the conference.”
Barefoot scored 23 to lead all scores. Rich scored 9 for the Raiders as well.
Exact statistics were not available for Sampson, but Jamelle Williams led them on Wednesday, despite having an-off game.
Midway is set to head to Dunn Middle on January 7th when they return to action. Sampson will look to bounce back on that same day, when they head to Roseboro-Salemburg Middle.