Cougars no match for Leopard boys

In the Carolina 1A conference tournament semi-finals Tuesday night, the Lakewood boys faced off against the Neuse Charter Cougars as a rematch of a game exactly one week prior that saw a slim halftime lead boil over to an onslaught by the Leopards in the second half. The match-up this week saw the same storyline as the Leopards bested the Cougars once more by a score of 79-69 to head to the conference tournament championship.

Juan Parker Jr. took the opening tip for the Leopards, a change of pace from the usual big man Xavier Hall. Parker did his job, though, launching over his competition to get it to Dashaun Carr, who set the Lakewood offense up. As was the theme of the night, though, the Leopards couldn’t capitalize on their first time with the ball and neither could the Cougars.

A deep 3 from Neuse opened the scoring. Jaziah Brunson answered back with a deep triple attempt of his own, but it was off the mark as the Leopards’ offense was stagnant off the bat. Another three from the Cougars gave the visitors the 6-0 lead nearly three minutes into the contest. Dashaun Carr got Lakewood on the board to cut the lead in half, and a put-back layup by Devin Jones momentarily cut the lead to one before the Cougars answered immediately. Another deep 3 from the red-hot Cougar squad saw them take the 11-5 advantage over halfway through the quarter. Brunson would get a put-back layup to cut it to 11-7.

Playing from behind hadn’t been the forte for the Leopards for a majority of the season, so finding themselves trailing in the first quarter seemingly threw them off their rhythm. With 1:21 to play in the opener, the hosts trailed 17-9 before big man Cam Williams got into the box score on a layup to get the Leopards into double digits with a 17-11 score. He followed this up with another turnaround layup to cut the deficit to four.

The lead for the visitors sat at 19-13 as the first quarter came to a close.

A triple from the top of the key for the Cougars started the second quarter, extending their lead to nine on the play. Xavier Hall checked in for the Leopards in the period, notching his first basket on the Leopards’ first possession. He would double it up with another layup and a block at the other end to let the Cougars know he was in the game. His first dunk of the night came on an inbound pass from J’kwon McKoy.

The 3-ball was severely hurting the Leopards defensively, as no matter how efficient their offense was, Neuse Charter was even more efficient on 3-point shooting, and the score sat at 25-21 just 2:31 into the second period.

Lakewood moved it to just a one-point deficit nearing the halfway point, but the Cougars broke it back open to four. Williams cut it back down to one on two separate occasions, but the Cougar offense was just too tough for Lakewood to stop.

Head coach Brandon Powell called for the team’s first timeout just shy of three minutes to help slow down Neuse Charter. Hall went to the free throw line shortly after and made one, to cut the lead down to one, and the big man was there to take Lakewood’s first lead on a put-back layup to make it 34-33. Dontaveous Smith extended it to three on a pair of free throws.

Missed shots were the kryptonite for the Leopards so far, as many members of Lakewood’s squad struggled to connect on even routine layups.

A deep 3-pointer from the Cougars as time expired in the first half led to a controversial call to give the Cougars the 37-36 lead, much to the disappointment of the hometown crowd with plenty of boos inbound for the officiating crew.

Hall scored the first basket of the second half on a put-back layup, but the Cougars and their lights-out shooting took the lead back at 42-38.

The teams went back and forth just a few minutes into the half, as another Hall put-back tied things at 42-all. Still, though, errors were coming Lakewood’s way as the Leopards were struggling to play a full game baseline to baseline.

A Neuse Charter free throw temporarily gave the Cougars the lead, but rebounds started to come the Leopards’ way. The score moved to 48-45 before Dashaun Carr fed Williams deep for the easy two, increasing the Leopard lead even more to 50-45 with 2:11 to play in the third. A Cougar 3 closed it to just a two-point advantage. Hall grabbed two back via free throws.

Foul trouble plagued Lakewood deep into the third, with the Cougars hitting three of their four free throws to cut the lead down to three at 54-51 with under a minute in the period, which is where the score would sit as the teams moved into the final chapter.

The Leopard lead was cut to just one to start the fourth quarter, but Smith got quick retribution for the shots and pushed the lead back to three on a jumper. It grew to five on another Hall layup, and Parker and Dashaun Carr added layups of their own as Lakewood went on an 8-2 run to start the final period. With 6:15 showing on the clock, the Gators signaled for a timeout as Lakewood had climbed to the 62-53 lead. Hall extended it once more on another layup.

Parker splashed a triple on an assist from Hall, continuing to grow the home team’s lead even further. Shortly after, a put-back from Williams extended the lead to 71-53 as the Leopards were now on a 17-2 run. Neuse Charter hit another 3 to slow the run, but Williams countered with a layup through contact, hitting the foul shot in the process to negate the trey.

With the 74-56 lead, Powell started substituting in some reserve players, getting them more action with the game well in control for the Leopards with under three minutes left. With the substitutions, though, came a stagnant offense. Jones added another wide-open layup to the tally, keeping Lakewood’s 15-point differential alive at 76-61 with less than 1:30 left on the clock.

Ayden Melvin was fouled with 55.5 seconds to go and the senior hit one of his foul shots to keep ahead. He hit a floater down the middle of the lane on Lakewood’s next possession to give them the 79-69 lead, which would be the final score.

With the win, Lakewood moved to a staggering 20-1 on the heels of a 20-game win streak after falling in their first contest. They are set to play against North Duplin for the Carolina 1A championship today at Union due to multiple weather delays. Tipoff will be at 3 p.m.

Blatantly missing from the Leopards’ starting lineup was the big-man duo of Cameron Williams and Xavier Hall to start the game, but the final three quarters of action saw the showstoppers get plenty of action. Head coach Brandon Powell commented on this absence, noting that one was due to illness and the other was for missing a practice. “When you miss practice, you don’t start — regardless of who you are,” he said.

On Lakewood making it to the Carolina 1A championship game, though, the humble coach had a softer approach. “Feels great, feels great,” he added. “I can’t recall when this happened for Lakewood. I’m a Lakewood alumnus. I’ve been involved in the sports program for decades with my parents and I can’t recall it happening before, so I feel really excited for the community, excited for the school.”