Friday night’s late game saw a very similar outcome as that of the girls’ game, with the Union boys this time losing the early lead late in the game, unable to stop the comeback from the Rosewood Eagles. The late-game momentum shift saw the Eagles hand the Spartans a 35-29 home loss.
Union took possession first, thanks to the work of Manny Adams, but their first possession came up empty. He would score on the next trip down the floor, though, collecting his own rebound and putting it home for the 2-0 lead.
Neither team could prevail from here, though, and they continued to trade possessions until Rosewood hit a three 2:30 into the game to take the 3-2 lead.
Mikhail McNeil assisted Adams on a triple of his own, and the Spartans retook the lead at 5-3 as the quarter was nearly halfway complete. Adams lost the ball off his own foot out of bounds on the Spartans’ next trip down the court, but Rosewood touched it and Union kept possession. Adams would hit a very long two the face of a defender to further extend the home team’s lead to four at 7-3.
Empty possessions were piling up for the Eagles, as they tried many contested threes to no avail. Union was slowly stringing together capitalizing on these errors, and Troy Treadwell made an and-1 layup as the result of one. He would be no good on the foul shot. John Malahias would put back the rebound from an Ayden Wrampe shot, extending the Spartan lead to 11-3 below two minutes.
The Spartans tried to eat the last 40 seconds of the quarter with long passes, many screens, and a motion offense, and they used up all but three seconds before the Eagles took the ball and attempted a running buzzer beater. It would be off the mark and Union would take the 11-3 lead into the first break in action.
Rosewood would score first in the second on a foul shot, making it 11-4 just 44 seconds into the period. The score would move to 11-6 before Nazjier Murphy was fouled with 6:18 remaining in the half, but he was no good on either of his foul shots. The Eagles continued their contested three points attempts, and yet none continued to fall.
The Spartans were yet to score in the second quarter as over 2:30 ticked off the clock, signifying a drastic swing in momentum in the game. Still, though, Rosewood had scored just four in the period, mostly from foul shots.
The Eagles continued to cut into the Spartan lead, slowly but surely, and with under four minutes in the half, Union led just 11-9 — still scoreless in the period.
A long, flat-footed, arching three from McNeil with under three minutes to play in the opening half got Union on the board again, extending their lead to 14-9. He would double up on triples shortly after, pushing it to a 17-9 lead.
A Rosewood triple at the one-minute mark closed the gap back to 17-12 for the final minute of the half, and the Eagles splashed another with 25 seconds left to tighten it even further at 17-15, the score that would last through halftime.
The Eagles started the second half with the ball, and the Spartans started with a foul. Rosewood could only connect on one of the free throws, but Union’s lead was down to one at 17-16.
McNeil fed Wrampe deep in the paint, but the big man couldn’t connect on a toss-in, and the teams traded possessions for the first two minutes until McNeil hit another flat-footed three to give Union the four point cushion. Rosewood sank a two and made it a 20-18 game, matching the Spartans up and down the floor.
Wrampe was sidelined near the five minute mark with an injury to his lower right leg.
McNeil came up with a steal, but couldn’t connect on the layup. Adams tried at the put-back and was also unsuccessful. Treadwell would grab the rebound at the foul line, where he was fouled on a shot. He sank both free throws, giving Union the 22-18 lead with under four minutes left in the third.
The lead would shrink again less than a minute later, when the Eagles got a put-back of their own to make it 22-20 with 3:16 to go in the period.
Adams would hit a pair of free throws as the Spartans played cat and mouse, answering everything the Eagles had. Rosewood continued with their three-point attempts even though they were largely unsuccessful to this point.
Adams would be called for a shooting foul, which the Eagle made through contact, but missed the free throw. Union would maintain the 24-22 lead with under two minutes left in the third.
The motion offense the Spartans had employed at the end of the second quarter was employed at the end of the third as well, and with similar results. Rosewood got the ball again with less than 20 seconds to go, and took it to the other end for a layup. The layup was good, but the Eagle was called for a travel much to the delight of the Union crowd and the disdain of Rosewood. Malahias would collect a rebound at the other end and put it home to extend the lead to 26-22 before the last intermission.
No scoring happened in over two minutes to start the fourth, with each side struggling to maintain control of the ball for myriad reasons. Rosewood would break the drought with 5:31 left on a layup their big man powered through Union to get, making it a 26-24 ball game.
The Eagles grabbed another point on a foul shot to cut the Spartan lead to just one as the clock neared the halfway mark of the final quarter. Murphy picked up a series of fouls, both offensive and defensive, in the period, signifying the hard-nosed basketball him and the Spartans were playing.
A Rosewood triple finally found its mark with 3:28 to play, giving the Eagles the 28-26 lead and forcing a Union timeout.
Adams was fouled hard on Union’s trip down the court after the timeout, seemingly hurting his wrist in the process. He sank of of the free throws just north of three minutes remaining to cut the deficit to one.
Malahias forced a jump ball with 2:13 to go after an errant shot from the Spartans was rebounded by the Eagles. The new possession resulted in no points, and neither did another Adams steal, and the score stayed parked at 28-27 as time moved closer to one minute remaining.
A foul by Treadwell at the 1:10 mark gave Rosewood another set of foul shots, and the Eagle shooter sank both to extend their lead to three.
A long elbow jumper from Adams was no good at the one minute mark, but Rosewood committed a travel at the other end with 38 seconds to play, giving the Spartans another look. This also gave them no points, and automatic fouls were the strategy from Union going forward. Rosewood would sink both free throws again, giving them the five point lead at 32-27 with under half a minute to play in the contest.
Adams pickpocketed one and grabbed the two points on a layup, shrinking the Eagle lead to three with 6.3 seconds to go.
Rosewood would take the 35-29 comeback win.
Mistakes by the Spartans — especially turnovers — were the point of emphasis for head coach Jermaine McNeil in his post-game interview. “First of all, we’ve got to stop these turnovers. These turnovers are really hurting us. That’s what put them back in the game — our turnovers. We’ve got to focus and keep each other together and make our free throws,” he said.
Reach Brandt Young at (910) 247-9036, at byoung@clintonnc.com, or on the Sampson Independent Facebook page.