
Lakewood’s Xavier Hall looks to make a soft landing after a big second-half dunk over Hobbton.
Brandt Young|Sampson Independent
Lakewood narrowly escapes upset by Hobbton
The Hobbton boys’ basketball team faced off against the giants of Lakewood in the late game Monday night, looking to be the David to the Leopards’ Goliath and grab an early Carolina 1A win. Hobbton was almost successful in the attempt, bringing the game down to the last seconds, but the Leopards would grab the 66-64 barn burner victory.
Richard Simpson and Xavier Hall took the opening tip, with Hall launching it far into Wildcat territory, but Jaziah Brunson couldn’t collect it, giving Hobbton the first possession of the late slate. Cameron Williams interrupted a pass intended for Richard Simpson, and it was Williams who scored the first basket of the game on a jumper from the right side of the key.
Williams would grab another pass intended for Joe Corbett, and a ricochet from his shot would feed Hall for his first dunk of the night, giving the hosts the 4-0 lead. Hall would come up with a block at the other end as well.
Amir Tate would grab the Wildcats’ first points on the low block.
The Wildcats were struck by the turnover bug early, both forced by Lakewood’s tight defense and their own mistakes. With 2:21 to play in the opening quarter, the Leopards held the 14-2 lead, with Hobbton making just one basket thus far. Corbett broke the drought, making his second of a pair of free throws. Deonte Darden would add a triple to cut the lead to single digits moments later.
Hobbton started to creep back into the game late in the first, as Lakewood found itself in foul trouble, picking up their team fifth just north of half a minute. The Wildcats would end the quarter on a 14-4 run, as the score stayed at 18-16 in favor of Lakewood going into the first intermission.
Brunson fed Hall for his second dunk to open up scoring in the second, and a Simpson layup answered for the Wildcats, making it a 20-18 game 1:30 into the second.
J’Kwon McKoy added two on a layup, but couldn’t connect with the and-1 for the Leopards. Hall collected the rebound and put-back, but also couldn’t connect on his free throw, either. A three from Darden would close it to 30-21 shortly after. He would double up moments later to tighten the Leopard lead to 30-24 with 2:32 to play in the half.
Hobbton brought things back, with teamwork from Tate, Darden, Simpson, Dai’vian Murrell, and Nashon Kilkenny, and in the blink of an eye, it was just a 31-30 Lakewood lead. Dontaveous Smith hit a layup for the Leopards, but Simpson answered with one of his own and Darden collected a rebound for the put-back, giving the Wildcats the 34-33 lead in the last seconds of the first half.
A pass from Murrell sailed out of bounds for the Wildcats’ first possession of the second half, and Hall made them pay for their mistake with a pair of free throws at the other end to take the 35-34 lead for Lakewood.
Williams hit a floater up the right side of the lane, but Kilkenny returned fire to reel the score back to 39-36 in favor of the Leopards.
A corner three from Kilkenny retook the lead for the visitors at 40-39, but a put-back from Williams would propel Lakewood back to the 41-40 lead. Simpson would tie things up at 43-all with 2:23 left in the third on a free throw. Williams would retake the lead for Lakewood on a foul shot of his own.
Darden would tighten it back to 49-45 with under a minute left in the third quarter, and Corbett collected a rebound for the buzzer-beating layup to make it just 49-47 going into the final period of action.
Hall score the first bucket of the fourth just seconds in, collecting a rebound and putting it home to extend the Leopards’ lead to 51-47. Another dunk from Hall would extend it to 53-47, and a put-back from Dashaun Carr made it 55-47.
Multiple big plays from Simpson and company would bring the Wildcats back into it at 55-51 with 4:56 left to play.
Darden poked the ball loose on an inbound for the Leopards, but Carr quickly recovered and got it to Hall for a monstrous slam. A three from Darden rattled inside the rim but was no good, and Lakewood jumped out to a 10-point lead at 61-51 after the surge from Hobbton with 3:41 left to play.
A deep three from Tate arced high and found the bottom of the net to cut Lakewood’s lead back to 61-54 in the last three minutes.
The Leopard lead would shrink again to 62-59 with under two minutes, and a missed dunk from Hall would lead to Murrell burying a three at the other end to tie it at 62 each with less than 1:30 remaining.
A drive from Brunson would net the Leopards the lead once more, but Murrell was there to tie things up again at 64-all with 48.9 seconds to play.
A tip-in from Hall would give Lakewood the 66-64 lead, and juggling and jostling at the other end would lead to Hobbton failing to land another basket, and the final buzzer would sound with Lakewood escaping the upset.
Reach Brandt Young at (910) 247-9036, at byoung@clintonnc.com, or on the Sampson Independent Facebook page.