Tanner Williams gets a layup in the lane for Midway.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
Strong second half leads Raiders over Wildcats
In the late game on Wednesday, the Midway and Hobbton boys took to the court, battling it out in their version of the rivalry showdown. An entertaining game in the first half quickly dissolved into a Raiders rout in the second as they ran away for a 53-42 victory.
In the first quarter, Midway opened a fairly quick 5-0 lead on a three-pointer by Tanner Williams and a pair of free throws by Anthony Graham. After that, they became stuck in the mud and Hobbton made a run at them. The Wildcats leaped ahead with a 6-5 lead but by the end of the quarter, the Raiders were back in front at 7-6.
For Hobbton, it was Amir Tate that was accounting for all of their points. That fact continued in the second as he had all nine of the Wildcats’ points in putting them back ahead at 9-7. Then a basket by Richard Simpson made it 11-7 before a layup by Walker Holmes finally got the Raiders on the board in the second quarter. Midway rallied to tie the game back up at 11-11, but consecutive scores from Deonte Darden made it 16-11. Hobbton was hot from beyond the arc in the second quarter and as a result, took a 19-16 lead into the break.
When the second half got underway, baskets by Williams and Ke’Mari McNeill put the Raiders back ahead at 20-19. Williams got hot for Midway as he led an 11-1 run to put the Raiders up 27-20, yielding a Wildcats timeout with 5:13 on the clock in the third quarter. Their lead hit 29-20 before a couple scores from the Wildcats made it close again. This was short-lived, though, as another three-ball by Williams put the Raiders lead at double-digits. By the end of the third quarter, Midway led 35-26.
Hobbton was stuck trying to play catch-up, and they started doing it well early in the fourth. They got a couple of stops and scores, bringing the tally closer at 35-28. Midway’s Travis Gist, though, was proving problematic as he heated up and pushed the Raiders’ lead back to double-digits at 40-28. From there, Midway surged as the game winded down and at one point hit a 20 point lead. With 1:00 to, they got some reserve players in as victory was all but sealed up. When the final horn sounded, the Raiders had captured a 53-42 victory.
Scoring leaders for Midway were Gist with 17 and Williams with 14. Ke’Mari McNeill added nine points.
For Hobbton, they were led by Tate with 16 points, Nashon Kilkenny had 13 and Darden added nine.
The Raiders are now 4-0 on the season and will hit the court again on Monday at Spring Creek. The Wildcats are 1-2 overall and were in action on Friday hosting Jones County.