Leopards down Spartans for JV championship

In the first bout of Championship Saturday at Union High, the JV regular season co-champions for the Carolina 1A — No. 1 seed Union and No. 2 Lakewood — took to the court for the tournament gold. After a back-and-forth tug of war with the two squads, Lakewood emerged with a 57-50 victory to upset their conference rivals.

Union’s Elijah Godfrey and Lakewood’s Nijal McCrae took the tipoff for the two squads, but a violation was called on Lakewood to give it to Union. The teams traded brief possessions back and forth to start the game, with Lakewood taking their first to set up an offense. Burroughs Strickland was no good on an early 3-point attempt and Union made the Leopards pay with a layup.

Travon Carr scored Lakewood’s first basket to tie it and McCrae came up with a steal to get them ahead by a basket. Kemori McNeil launched a deep two that was no good, keeping the score the same. Union’s Godfrey fouled Donovan Smith on the ground, resulting in no free throws and keeping possession with Leopards with no points scored in the second attempt either.

Union showed a 3-2 zone defensively, looking to slow down the action from the visiting Leopards and forcing their offense into uncomfortable situations. Lakewood started with a half-court press as Union brought the ball up, but quickly moved to a zone for themselves, often trapping the ball handler near half-court to keep the pressure on.

Smith got a breakaway layup to extend the visitors’ lead to 6-2, and another steal from McCrae netted no points for the Leopards as he couldn’t connect on a layup. Godfrey got a pair of points back for Union on a wide-open layup north four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Godfrey was fouled on a layup, and the forward made both of his free throws to tie it at 6 apiece.

As evenly matched as two teams can get — both physically and skill-wise — the JV squads for Union and Lakewood were showcasing this early. Carr got a put-back layup from a Burroughs Strickland shot that was just off the mark to put Lakewood ahead by two once more deep in the opening period, but an elbow jumper from the Spartans tied it again just seconds later.

A pair of foul shots from Carr retook Lakewood’s lead, and a put-back from a couple of missed Leopard shots via Marquis Owens gave them the 12-8 advantage to end the first.

With a struggle ensuing from both teams to start the second, Tobias Cromartie connected with Derick Aycock on an inbound pass to give him a 3-pointer. Carr answered with two, and the score moved to 14-11 in the opening minute of the period before a wide-open triple from McCrae pushed the lead back to six for the Leopards.

The lead grew to eight on a layup from Smith over Godfrey, and it didn’t help that Josiah Swinson was called for the charge on the Spartans’ next possession. Tobias Cromartie followed by fouling Strickland on a 3 on Lakewood’s next possession, giving the shooter three foul shots in the process, although he couldn’t sink any, and the score stayed parked at 19-11 in favor of Lakewood.

The teams traded baskets towards the middle of the period as the score moved to 21-13, but a long trey from Aycock moved it to 21-16.

Both squads ran into foul trouble with less than 3:30 to play in the half, with Union grabbing four and Lakewood three. A wide-open 3 from Swinson closed it to a 22-19 lead for Lakewood.

After more back-and-forth action, Aycock buried a foul shot to cut Lakewood’s lead to 24-20 with under two minutes to play in the half. Swinson cut it even further on a fast break layup and Lakewood called for the timeout with 1:24 remaining.

A one-handed jumper up the left side from Swinson tied the score with just over half a minute remaining. Lakewood took the last possession of the half — or what looked to be — before a foul was called on a shot by Carr with 1.7 seconds left on the clock in the second quarter. He sank both from the charity stripe to give the visitors the slim 26-24 lead heading into halftime.

Union had the ball to start the second half, and both Godfrey and Kenny Cromartie tried to erase the deficit, but to no avail. 11L put Lakewood up by another score on a shot just in front of the hoop. Cromartie would eventually tie it at 28-all just over a minute later, but McCrae put the Leopards ahead by one on a foul shot. The two teams were locked in a game of cat and mouse as Union would tie it, but could never get ahead, and Lakewood would retake the lead. And, like before, McCrae extended Lakewood’s lead even further on a pair of free throws, this time making it a 31-28 ball game.

Foul trouble befell both teams early in the half. With 5:44 to play in the third, Lakewood had three and Union two. Just 43 seconds later, the Leopards had grabbed two more team fouls to give them five — but Union couldn’t capitalize on the foul shots often, making a 31-29 game.

McCrae broke the lead open further for Lakewood on a 3 to make it a 36-31 game over halfway through the third, but Godfrey completed the free throw on the and-1 to keep the game within two. Kenny Cromartie tied it on a baseline floater with under three minutes to play in the quarter. He would also take the lead on a layup right at the two-minute mark for the Spartans, making it a 38-36 ball game in favor of the hosts. Carr tied it a minute later on a floater through the middle of the lane.

Strickland buried a jumper from the right side with almost exactly 30 seconds left in the quarter to give Lakewood the lead once again. The score sat at 40-38 as the No. 1 and 2 seeds moved into the final period of their championship bout.

Smith immediately went into action for Lakewood in the fourth quarter to extend their lead by two on a layup, but Kenny Cromartie answered right back. Strickland buried a corner 3 to give the Leopards the five-point advantage just under a minute into the fourth.

The scoring slowed down in the slugfest as the teams slowed their offenses down, looking to commit fewer errors and be more methodical. With 5:12 to play, Union signaled for the timeout as they were down 45-42.

Smith drew a foul, but could only connect on one of his free throws to extend the lead even further. Kenny Cromartie responded and cut the Leopard lead to two at 46-44 with 4:35 to play.

Fouls continued to plague both sides deep into the final period, as Union grabbed its fifth with 3:17 remaining, while Lakewood had three. The score sat at 49-45, the last Lakewood point courtesy of an Owens free throw. McNeil cut the deficit by one on a free throw of his own before Smith extended it by another pair of points on a fast break.

After the lead had grown to 51-46, Swinson hit a pair of foul shots to cut it back to 51-48 with just over two minutes left to play in the close contest.

As the fouling continued, so did the scoring opportunities. Owens took advantage once more, sinking another pair at the 1:30 mark to give Lakewood the 53-48 lead with their eyes on the conference championship.

Just when the Leopards were eyeing their prize, the Spartans made it interesting. With under 50 seconds to go, Godfrey made a foul shot to move it to a 53-50 score, but Carr once again took the fast break for a layup, extending the lead back to five with 35.6 seconds left.

McCrae made two more free throws to give Lakewood the 57-50 advantage, but Aycock sank a running 3 with 8.8 seconds remaining to cut the lead down to four as the two squads wouldn’t give up their fight.

Lakewood would take the 57-53 victory and the Carolina 1A JV championship.