The Hobbton Middle School Wildcats visited the Midway Middle School Raiders on Thursday and squeaked by the Raiders 31-30 on one last heave at the buzzer. Josiah McLaurin got the winning shot from half court as the buzzer sounded after grabbing a missed Midway foul shot and dribbling four times before putting up the shot.
The Wildcats were down by two points with Midway at the charity stripe. The first shot hit but the second missed setting up the dramatic final.
“It was a hard-fought defensive battle,” commented Hobbton coach Jackson Temple. “It felt like a battle in the trenches of football. The boys have battled through the flu this week and a lot of players stepped up to keep the game close.”
Over on the Midway side, Raiders coach Josh Bullard remained optimistic.
“The fans got their money’s worth today,” Bullard said. “Unfortunately, we came up short by a bank three-pointer at the buzzer. Losing two games this week by one point is tough but we are getting better as a team and that is always our main goal.”
McLaurin led the scoring with a game high 13 points and Ashawd Wynn hit five. For Midway, they were led by Wyatt Herring and Trip Westbrook, who each had seven.
Midway will play twice this week, starting today against McGee’s and Thursday at Sampson.
Girls
In the girls game, the Lady Raiders stormed past the Lady Wildcats 39-15. Morgan Williams led Midway with 11 points, followed by Tamia Gwynn with seven. Morgan Hall had five points, Bella Lisk and Glenna McLamb each had four points, and Kara Beth Benton, McKenzie Williams, and Peyton Herring had two points.
After the win, Midway head coach Selena Joseph spoke positively of her team’s performance.
“We started out strong in the first quarter, getting several steals off of the press. We seemed to lose a little steam in the second quarter but brought it back in the second half. Both teams played hard and were aggressive but this was one of our best starts this year,” Joseph said.
The Lady Raiders is now 7-1 overall and will play against McGee’s this afternoon at 4 p.m.