Lakewood boys breeze past Hurricanes

Both Lakewood basketball teams hosted playoff games Tuesday night, with the No. 3 seed Leopard boys drawing Pamlico County in the first round for the late-game action at Lakewood High School. After a tumultuous first half — something the Leopards are no strangers to — Lakewood took the 74-55 win to head to the second round to host No. 14 seed Bertie Friday night.

Dashaun Carr took the tipoff from Xavier Hall, but a triple from the Hurricanes’ big man gave the visitors the 3-0 lead early. Another early 3 extended the lead to 6-0. Dashaun Carr got Lakewood on the board with a runner up the left side to make it 6-2.

Shots wouldn’t fall for the Leopards early, as nearly all of their starting five had missed at least once so far. Dashaun Carr connected with a Cameron Williams on a backdoor pass in the key to give the Leopard big man a layup, but Pamlico was there to answer, making it 8-4.

As the visiting lead grew to 10-4, head coach Brandon Powell signaled for the timeout with 3:41 to play in the first. Dontaveous Smith was fouled on a fast break layup, fed by Dashaun Carr from a steal, and the junior guard could only sink one of his free throws. The Hurricane big man got his first dunk of the night in a fast break shortly after, and another shot in front of the basket for Pamlico would push it to a 14-5 lead before Hall put back his own missed shot to stop the run and make it 14-7.

Confusion from the officiating crew gave Dashaun Carr two foul shots instead of the and-1 through contact, and although Carr made both his foul shots, he was stripped of a point due to an error. This made it a 14-9 ball game late in the first. This would be the score as the teams made their way into the first intermission.

Williams found the bottom of the net on a deep 3 to start the second, cutting it to a 14-12 lead, before a Hurricane fast break added another two for the visitors. J’Kwon McKoy added a baseline runner to once again cut the lead back to two.

As the two teams struggled with each other’s defense, the Hurricanes climbed out to a 20-16 lead before Hall sank a free throw to make it 20-17 with 3:30 to play in the half.

A corner 3 from Pamlico extended the lead to six, hushing the hometown crowd, who had been in the game thus far. Williams sank a free throw courtesy of a technical foul and then added another basket through contact. He made the ensuing free throw, giving him four quick points and making it a 23-21 Pamlico lead. Dashaun Carr tied it shortly after with 1:53 to play.

Smith tied it once more at 25-all courtesy of a baseline assist from Dashaun Carr, south of a minute to play in the half. A long triple would be off the mark for the Hurricanes going into halftime, and the score would stay tied as the teams broke once more.

Jaziah Brunson was no good on triple early on in the third, and Pamlico took the rebound for the fast break, breaking the tie once more. Williams got a point back via free throw and added a pair on a layup on his own rebound to momentarily give the Leopards the lead. The Hurricanes would take the 29-28 advantage shortly after, with Lakewood following suit via a Williams layup at 30-29 as the two teams chased each other on the scoreboard. Juan Parker Jr. buried a corner 3 to make it 33-31. Devin Jones extended it further on a put-back.

As was typical fashion in many Lakewood games all year, the third quarter saw the Leopards turn up the intensity and take the commanding lead. With 2:55 left in the third, the hometown Leopards held the 40-33 lead as they were on the 15-8 run in the period.

The Hurricanes finally stopped the bleed with a hair over 1:30 left in the quarter, but back-to-back layups from Hall extended it further. After a small run from Pamlico, the score sat at 46-40 moving into the fourth.

Scoring for the Leopards in the fourth opened with Dashaun Card making a layup through a foul and completing the and-1, making his foul shot. Smith added two more on a fast break, pushing it to a 51-40 lead before the Hurricanes answered on a put-back of their own.

An alley-oop from Dashaun Carr to Hall elicited a big response from the home crowd and a timeout from Pamlico as the score sat at 53-44 with 6:11 to go in the game. The Hurricanes surged back less than a minute later and made it a 53-49 ball game with 5:34 on the clock. The lead shrunk even further on a pair of free throws, with Lakewood maintaining just the two-point advantage.

Where there was a Hurricane surge, though, there was a Leopard pounce, and Lakewood found itself with the 56-51 lead near the four-minute mark. With the two squads being evenly matched, Pamlico once again brought it back to within three, but a Brunson drive netted the Leopards the five-point lead once more.

A fast break dunk from Hall and an and-1 from Dashaun Carr grew the Leopard lead to 10 at 63-53 with just over three minutes to play. A fadeaway jumper from Hall extended it even further.

Lakewood’s lead continued to grow as all-around good basketball was being played by the hosts. With under 1:30 to play, they had made it a 70-53 game courtesy of multiple defensive stops and efficient offense.

The Leopards took the commanding 74-55 win to head to the second round. This marked their 22nd-straight win as well.

On his team’s slow first-half starts with explosive third quarters, head coach Brandon Powell’s words were simple, yet effective. “I wish I knew,” he said. “Because I definitely want to figure it out and make changes to correct it.

“Energy starts off low,” he continued. “I think my young players sometimes have a lot on their minds — something we have to continue to work on. I recognize it — I have the same speech every single time before the game about starting off strong, and I’m just waiting for us to do it.”