Wildcats fall short in conference semi-finals

In a rematch from the final game of the regular season, the Hobbton and North Duplin boys squared off once more in the Carolina 1A conference tournament semi-finals on Tuesday night at Lakewood, with the winner advancing to the championship game. A back-and-forth game until the final minutes, the North Duplin Rebels came out on top with a 49-45 win.

North Duplin’s Donavan Armwood and Hobbton’s Richard Simpson met for the opening tipoff, where Armwood got it to Noah Price for the game’s first possession. It would be to no avail, though, as Price tripped and lost the ball out of bounds. The Wildcats also came up within points their first time with the ball, but Dai’vian Murrell pickpocketed a pass and took it coast-to-coast for Hobbton’s first score to make it 2-0 in favor of the Wildcats.

Just over a minute into the game, the teams traded possessions on errant passes and stifling defenses. With 6:20 left in the quarter, Anthony Kornegay took a big fall after jumping high for a pass but didn’t spend a long period of time on the ground. Nonetheless, Lucas Dail was substituted to give him a breather on the bench.

Armwood finally put the Rebels on the board with a layup with 5:54 remaining in the first after a steal on a Wildcat inbound pass. He was fouled on the play, but couldn’t find the bottom of the net on the ensuing free throw, keeping the score tied until Simpson broke the tie in favor of Hobbton on the Wildcats’ next trip down the floor, this being a floater halfway through the key.

Simpson also got a partial block on a shot by Price, but Branson Martin took the inbound pass that followed to bury a corner three, giving the Rebels the 5-4 lead. Simpson would erase this lead on a fast break layup south of four minutes to once again take the lead for the Wildcats, this time at 6-5.

Dail had a chance to tie it and even take the lead on a pair of free throws, but the first was no good and the second — which he made — was negated due to a lane violation on the Rebels.

It was also Dail who went up for a layup but was blocked by Hobbton’s Chris Davis, keeping the score at the same 8-5 it had been, now with under two minutes on the clock.

Both teams employed the 2-3 zone defensively, but Hobbton was doing a better job at defeating it with their offense. A charge was called on Kayden Bowden, giving possession back to the Wildcats late in the period. The score sat at 10-5 in favor of Hobbton at the first intermission.

The two teams traded empty possessions to start the second, but a Price and Martin layup each brought the Rebels to within one at 10-9 under a minute into the period.

Murrell added Hobbton’s first points on a turnaround jumper over his Rebel opponent, and Joe Corbett followed it up with an elbow jumper to grab his first points. Luke Kelly added a layup for North Duplin, making the score 14-11 nearly halfway through the second.

Baskets were traded up and down the court for several possessions, as North Duplin would trim the deficit to one, but Hobbton would have an answer. A steal from the Rebels gave Price a wide-open basket, which he couldn’t connect on, but Dail was there for cleanup duty to give North Duplin the 17-16 advantage with 2:45 left in the half.

Amir Tate collected a rebound and took it down for the layup to give Hobbton the lead once again. Nashon Kilkenny would extend this further on a flat-footed shot from the right side after an inbound pass, making it a 20-17 lead for the ‘Cats.

Martin erased North Duplin’s deficit to one yet again on a fast break layup, as the teams struggled to break away from each other. Kelly was sent to the line with under half a minute left in the half, where he sank a foul shot to tie it at 20 apiece. Simpson answered with a runner down the lane with just moments left in the second quarter to give Hobbton the 22-20 lead going into halftime.

It was the Rebels’ ball to start the third, and it was Armwood who made the first basket. Kelly got a block on Hobbton’s Davis, which led to Martin firing a jumper off the mark and Armwood cleaning it up for the put-back. One minute into the second half, and North Duplin had jumped back into the lead at 24-22.

Davis got revenge on Kelly, blocking a shot by the Rebel, keeping North Duplin from extending its lead. Over two minutes into the quarter Hobbton remained scoreless while another layup from Price made it a 26-22 lead for the Rebels.

Hobbton called for the timeout after Martin fed Noah Bennett for a layup on the low block with 5:13 to go in the third, trying to stop the 8-0 North Duplin run. Murrell fed Simpson underneath for a layup out of the timeout to get the Wildcats on the board. He hooked Davis up with a pass on the low block as well to cut the Rebel lead to 28-26 with under four minutes in the period.

A Deonte Darden shot looked to fall short until Simpson was there to collect it and put it up for the layup to tie the game before Martin broke it back open with a jumper from the right baseline. Armwood wound up for a huge block on Davis, getting just part of the ball, but taking a possession from the Wildcats still. His pass to Martin was too long, though, and the Rebels gave possession right back.

The North Duplin lead climbed to 32-28 with less than a minute to play in the third, but Murrell and Kelly traded baskets for each team to make it 34-30. This would be the score going into the fourth.

Price opened the scoring for the teams on a pair of layups, but Murrell added a 3-point play to cut the lead to 38-33 less than two minutes into the fourth. Another pair of points would be added for the Rebels, but scoring slowed down between the two teams as the fourth neared the halfway mark.

The Wildcats started to surge back, cutting the lead to 42-39 with under 2:30 to play, and further cutting it to just a one-point deficit shortly after, with the score showing 42-41.

Armwood opened it to a 44-41 Rebel advantage with 1:14 to play, prompting a timeout from Hobbton. Tate was left wide-open on an inbound pass out of the break, scoring a layup from the Rebel miscue. He was no good on his foul shot, though, keeping it at 44-43. Martin would get a layup to push the lead back to three with under a minute to play.

Murrell took things into his own hands on the next Wildcat possession, taking it the length of the floor for a layup to cut the lead back to one at 46-45 with 14.2 seconds left. Kornegay would get a wide-open layup to push it back to 48-45 with less than four seconds on the clock.

Every Rebel inbound from this point forward resulted in the Wildcats fouling until North Duplin was in the shooting bonus. Armwood made a free throw to give the Rebels the four-point lead, and Murrell fired a halfcourt shot to end it, but couldn’t connect. North Duplin would take the 49-45 win.