The Lakewood Leopards men’s varsity basketball team faced off against the North Duplin Rebels Thursday night in a game that almost had the looks of being a tight contest until the Rebels pulled away late to win 61-48.

Lakewood got off to a very strong start and appeared to be the superior team, but could not keep a foot on the gas and allowed North Duplin to creep back into the game. In fact, Lakewood led by as much as 10 in the first quarter and led 15-6 when the first quarter came to a close.

Lakewood controlled most of the second quarter as well, and maintained a 10-point lead until the Rebels began to chip away at the lead to slim it down to only five at the break, with Lakewood leading 27-22.

The second half, however, was a much different story, and North Duplin looked like a changed team. The game tightened up to only two as soon as the third quarter opened up, and then stud North Duplin player Malik Cobb, who gave the Leopards fits all night and for the most part put the whole North Duplin team on his back, tied it up at 27 apiece with 6:11 remaining in the third quarter.

After that, it was all North Duplin, however, even after being down by as much as six, Lakewood did in fact rally back to knot it up at 45 each with 3:52 remaining, but was unable to take the lead despite having all the momentum and allowed the Rebels to amass a double-digit lead that was just too tough to come back from.

The Leopards had to turn to their bench to help fill the role of starter Zach Tanner who rolled his ankle early in the game and was out for the rest of the match. Asked to the extent of the injury, Lakewood head coach Sylvester Pittman acknowledged that Tanner rolled it “pretty bad,” forcing Tanner to miss the rest of the game and watch from the bench.

In addition to Tanner, solid bench player Shawn Andrew, who has had many minutes of playing time so far this year, was also unable to participate in the ballgame due to an injured back, and was dressed up in street clothes while watching the match.

Pittman was upset with how his team played and credited the Rebels for their aggressiveness in the second half. “Hats off to North Duplin, they came out of the second half with a lot of intensity, and we didn’t match it.” Pittman said. His team falls to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in their conference.

North Duplin Rebels head coach Ricky Edwards was impressed with how Malik Cobb, who had 23 points, played. “I thought Malik played extremely well inside for us and I thought that got us going and he seemed to make a lot of foul shots.” The Rebels improve to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in their conference.

Johnny Owens drives through the North Duplin defense.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Lwood-J-Owens.jpgJohnny Owens drives through the North Duplin defense.

Lakewood’s Quamaine Williams goes up for a shot against North Duplin.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Lwood-Quamaine.jpgLakewood’s Quamaine Williams goes up for a shot against North Duplin.
Leopards give up early lead, fall to Rebels

By Adam Johnson

Sports Writer