The Hobbton Wildcat men hosted the Neuse Charter Cougars Wednesday night and came away with a big win, taking them to the .500 mark in the conference. The final was 70-37, Wildcats.

Neuse Charter’s team is small and young but very scrappy. However, they were no match for the Wildcats. At the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats had doubled their lead on the Cougars with a 16-8 score. They kept the doubled lead into the half finishing with a 49-18 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, the Wildcats extended that lead finishing with a 57-23 margin. Playing the bench, the Wildcats gave up some margin in the final frame finishing at 70-37.

Leading the Wildcat scoring effort was Omar Farrior with 18 points. Jordan Pearsall finished with 11, Dylan Owens had 9 points, DaCorris Morrison had seven and Jared Gainey had six. Everyone else on the team scored, also.

“It was good to get back on the court after all the cancellations, the snow time and exams,” said Hobbton coach Alfonza Hooper. “We haven’t had a whole lot of practice time. Neuse Charter is a better team than their record indicates. Their coach does a good job, they are a scrappy bunch and they aren’t that tall but they play hard. I told our guys we needed to get this win to get back to .500 in the conference. We had a good ball game tonight, everybody played and everybody got in the score book.”

“I told our guys to absorb this win and get back to practice tomorrow,” he continued. “We have Princeton Friday night…another tough conference game. We have to come ready to play. We have to get better on the little things.”

“Jordan Pearsall had a big game tonight. I told him they don’t have anybody his size and I wanted him to dominate inside. He and Jared Gainey did a good job rebounding the ball. Princeton will present a problem because they have some size,” he added. “I told them to execute. Play defense first and don’t worry about offense. We will be fine.”

“Omar Farrior had a great game tonight. We have been working on the passing lanes and tonight he played the passing lanes and executed just right. He got a dunk tonight. I knew he was going to get it when he got hold of the ball. We brought up a couple of JV players and they did fine tonight. I want to thank the fans that came out tonight and want them to come support us Friday night.”

With the they improve to 5-12 over and sit at 3-3 in the conference they hit the court again Friday hosting Princeton.

The Hobbton girls lost 66-6 as their season struggles continue. They remain winless on the year at 0-13 and 0-6 in conference play. They will try to secure that first win Friday when they help the men host Princeton.

Jordan Pearsall grabs one of his several rebounds. He also had 11 points on the night.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_Jordan-Pearsall.jpgJordan Pearsall grabs one of his several rebounds. He also had 11 points on the night.

Omar Farrior gets through traffic for two of his game-high 18 points in Hobbton’s win over Neuse Charter.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_Omar-FarriorhHHS.jpgOmar Farrior gets through traffic for two of his game-high 18 points in Hobbton’s win over Neuse Charter.

By David Johnson

Sports Writer