Full-court press

The 2024 chapter of the Sampson County football season has come to a close, and while I’m sad that I have no more Friday Night Lights to cover, I’m equally as excited for basketball — a sport that I fell in love with at a young age. Here is my perspective on the local boys’ basketball seasons so far, and how I think they will shape up.

Clinton

Michael Boykin and his crew have seen a shaky start thus far, but it’s not too far-fetched to believe they’ll make this season out to be a successful one. Just three seniors dot the lineup for the Horses, and the other 11 are in grades 9-11. One of their upperclassmen, junior Henry Bass, also quarterbacks the football team and is already showing promise on the court for Clinton. He’s listed at 6-3, 160, and has churned out rebounds for his new squad at a healthy pace — he averages eight boards a game so far.

Look for Clinton to play spoiler as the season progresses.

Harrells

They currently hold a 9-1 record through their first ten games, with their only loss — a close 56-52 game — coming at the hands of Quality Education Academy. They neared the century mark in their second game of the season against Living Water Christian, a 96-69 routing, and they average almost 71 points a game.

While the Crusaders have a high-flying duo in the McKoys — Dashaun is a 6-3 guard and Antonio is a 6-5 guard/forward combo — the Crusaders have other tricks up their sleeves, too. Sophomore Amir Moore is a towering 6-8, 240 pound power forward, and Zicareian McNeil is a six-footer who plays the guard spots.

Hobbton

Hobbton has a lengthy big man in Richard Simpson, who is the power forward/center that pesters opponents with his above-six-foot frame. He averages 13 points per game as of now. Amir Tate follows that up with 11.8 per contest, and Deonte Darden has an average of 9.5 to boot. Tate is the leader in free throw percentage, as he’s currently knocking down 80 percent from the charity stripe.

The Wildcats up in Newton Grove will need all of these efforts to continue, as their schedule is littered with plenty of basketball talent. They have their second match-up with Midway on Dec. 20, which I’m sure they’ve already scheduled on their calendars — especially if the Raiders are still undefeated at that point. I could see Hobbton winning the Carolina 1A outright this season. You read it here first.

Lakewood

They’re going to be missing their 6-5 guard from a season ago, Shamell Little, as he was one of their two seniors on their squad last year. But, looking at their statistics, it looked like the ball moved through Cameron Williams, their run-stopping defensive tackle on the football field. I imagine he played a pivotal role in the front court, either at the power forward or center position, en route to his 17.1 points per game average on 46 percent from the field.

If Williams is back on the court, I’d assume he’ll be joined by football teammates Dashaun Carr, Chris Carr, Jaziah Brunson, Devin Jones, and Juan Parker, Jr. Look for the Leopards to have a solid season this year, and an improvement made over last season’s record.

Midway

Last year, they went 15-9 and 6-5 in the SAC, which was good enough for third place in the conference. They lost a close one in the first round of the playoffs to Martin County, falling 52-47. Few statistics were available for their efforts on the court last year, but Ke’mari McNeil was their leading scorer with 305 points total, good enough for a 12.7 average across his contests.

With their red-hot start, and how they seem to control the games they’ve played this year, they seem to be a force to be reckoned with. A tough conference schedule awaits them as they move through their early-season nonconference play. I could see them making waves and a big playoff push this season.

Mintz

Mintz also lost a couple of its leaders last year; Zach Honeycutt, its leading point-scorer graduated and Henry Bass, its top rebounder, transferred to Clinton — the latter of the two also led the team in three-point shooting percentage, as he knocked down 50 percent from beyond the arc.

The Lions are currently 2-0 with a long stretch of games ahead of them ending in February. The good news for them is that a lot of their games are spread out, with time to recuperate in between contests and work on their gameplan. I’ll take them to have a similar record to last year.

Union

Union is another team that has some multi-sport athletes filling out the squad. John Malahias and Ayden Wrampe are football players in the fall and basketball players in the winter, and they make up the front court with some size. Malahias is listed at 6-2 and Wrampe is listed at 6-5. They can box out and snag boards as they need to, making their presence known around the basket. Those aren’t the only two at-or-above six foot for the Spartans, so size seems to be an advantage for the red and black.

I think we’re in for a much different season this year from the Union squad. They can — and will — play spoiler for unsuspecting teams this season. Don’t count them out as you may have in years past.