The Hobbton Wildcats hosted the Lakewood Leopards Friday night in high school hoops action. Lakewood got a way with two wins — JV 74-70; girls 63-34. The Leopard boys came up short losing 55-44.
Before the girls’ game got under way, Sasha Martin was awarded a signed basketball celebrating her 1,000th point in an earlier game at Trask. The Leopard girls ran away with the game, though. They were up 19-6 after one period and kept adding to the score leading 32-10 at the half.
Bianca Moore led the Lakewood scoring effort with 16 points. Brittany Boykin was close behind with 15, while Kiarra Rich hit 9.
Lakewood coach Lofton Kerr said, “It was a good win. We were glad to get it. We played well the first half but the second half was a little off. Some of our bench players have got to step up if we are to get where we want to be.”
Wildcat coach Alphonso Hooper said, “I preached to the girls the last two or three days to not let them score 25-30 points in the first four minutes of the game. Lakewood has an excellent transition game. I think we were just happy surviving the first four minutes and we just let down. Michaela Wilson only had 2 points in the game. She is one of our leading scorers and when she doesn’t play well, we don’t do well. Casey Hobbs played a good game. She had a double-double. We need to get ready for Wallace and Midway next week. We would like to have third place and maybe get a home playoff game. There hasn’t been a girls’ home playoff game here is about 20 years.”
In the boys game, Hobbton jumped out to a lead and never lost it. They were up 12-10 after the first quarter. They slowly built on that lead pushing it to 7 points, 29-22, at the half. Hobbton led by 12 at one point in the second quarter. Lakewood came out fired up after the half but Hobbton still dominated them going up 44-29 at the end of the third quarter.
Hobbton coach Jeff Byrd said, “It was a good win. They beat us pretty good last time at their place. We are playing pretty good ball. We are playing good defense. We have to figure out how to get one on the road. We have lost three on the road by 2 or 3 points. We play pretty good at home and we have a shot at the playoffs. That’s what we are playing for.”
Leopard coach Sylvester Pittman said, “Congratulations to Hobbton. They fought hard. Hats off to Hobbton. They played a really good game.”
Arell Owens led the Wildcat scoring effort with 22 points. Jonathan Faison added 16. The balance was spread between the rest of the team.
Lakewood had a balanced scoring effort with Mike Smith scoring 10 points. Nick Butler contributed 8; Nikin Henry and Jabriel Cooper had 6 each.
Lakewood’s JV squeaked by Hobbton in that game. In the second half, Hobbton was nipping at Lakewood’s heals late in the game. The had it close several times but just couldn’t quite put it together.
Lakewood coach Pittman said, “My hat’s off to Hobbton. They played real hard. They came back and put pressure on us. It was a good win for us.
Wildcat Hooper said, “I knew coming into tonight’s game they were going to play full court press and 2-2-1 defense. I told our guys to just be patient and pass the ball and we could beat the trap. In the second half, I called Hunter Britt out and told him he had to start playing ball. The sky’s the limit for him if he sticks to it. He isn’t but 13 years and if he sticks to it, he will be a good one. In the second half, they jumped out to a 13-point lead but our guys didn’t give up. Marques Surles played a good game. We started pressing them. Most teams that like to press don’t like to be pressed. Down the stretch, we cut it to 1-point. Who knows, a play here and there could have made a difference. That was the most points we have scored all year. I think Hunter Britt has about 30 points.”
Dahon Wilson scored 18 points for the Leopards and Willie Herring had 17.
Post a Comment
