
Midway’s Ke’Mari McNeill pulls up for two in the lane amid contact.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
In the late game on Tuesday, Clinton’s Dark Horse and Midway’s Raider boys hit the hardwood for their first matchup of the season. Another close rivalry throwdown was expected to unfold here as well, but for the most part, this one was controlled by Midway. The Raiders avoided a late run by the Dark Horses and secured victory in their conference opener, winning 57-40.
The action up and down the court was fast-paced at the onset, but there was little scoring to show for it. After the first few moments of the game, the teams had only exchanged a single free throw for a 1-1 score.
Midway finally grabbed the early lead, opening an advantage of 6-2. The action picked up after that and the Raiders established a 10-5 lead, prompting Clinton to spend a timeout at the three-minute mark. With under a minute to go, Midway secured a couple of buckets from Ke’Mari McNeill and Everett Jackson to take a 14-5 first quarter lead.
The Raiders surged at the start of the second quarter, running out to a double-digit lead. A block from Jackson and a three-pointer by Travis Gist ignited Midway’s gun as the Raiders leaped out to a 23-10 lead. At the 3:10 mark, the Dark Horses signaled for timeout, looking to regroup. From there, though, the Raiders continued to shine and grew their lead to 30-13 at the halftime intermission.
When the second half got underway, the clock stayed on the move for the first couple of minutes with little scoring and no whistles. Midway’s Anthony Graham was fouled on a layup, which he made, but missed the extra free throw, putting the score 32-13. Their lead eclipsed the 20-point mark but the Dark Horses gradually worked it back down a bit. At the end of the third quarter, the Raiders led 44-31.
Almost unknowingly, Clinton began sneaking back into contention. A three-pointer by Amir Wright with 4:56 left in the game made it a 10-point score, at 48-38, as the Raiders had been lulled into a stretch that wasn’t going in their favor.
Shots also had stopped falling.
Another bucket by Devon Garner put the margin under double-digits at 48-40 as the clock dipped below four minutes to go. McNeill finally answered for Midway, making it 50-40 at the 3:09 mark. Then, Colin Woods sank a three to put the Raiders back at a comfortable margin at 53-40. From there, the Raiders coasted to the 57-40 victory.
Leading scorers for Clinton were Wright with nine points and Garrison Hill and Jabari Daughtry with six points each. Anyahs Butler had five.
For Midway, McNeill had 14 points and Graham had 12 points. Woods had nine points and Travis Gist had eight.
Clinton, now 2-9 overall and 0-1 in conference play, was slated to be back on the court at home on Friday, hosting West Bladen. Winter weather, however, forced the cancellation of that game.
Midway is now 9-1 on the season and 1-0 in league play. They were set to hit the road down to Fairmont on Thursday.