Red Rams fall in road opener, rebound with a win at home
The Hamlet Middle boys basketball team got off to a rough start with a 46-31 road loss at Sandy Grove on Monday, but earned its first win of the season three days later defeating Spring Hill 42-25 in its home opener.
Sandy Grove jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
“Sandy Grove has a veteran team which came out and put us on our heels,” explained Hamlet head coach Keith Parsons. “We settled down and played much better in the final three quarters, and I look forward to seeing more improvements. Raeshard (Bryant) and Adrion (Pore) worked very well together, and both helped steady us a bit after the tough start. Jymir (Brown) was huge on the boards for us and did all the dirty work which doesn’t show up in the stat sheet.”
Scorers for Hamlet at Sandy Grove were: Bryant 14, Pore 9, Elijah Peterkin 8 and Brown had 9 rebounds and 3 assists for the Red Rams.
It was a slow start for both teams when Spring Hill traveled to Hamlet on Thursday. Only three baskets were scored in the opening quarter with Spring Hill holding a 4-2 lead. Hamlet began to catch fire, scoring 11 straight points to start the second and cruises to a 17-point victory.
Bryant finished with a game-high 16 points for the Red Rams, Juelz Smith scored 9, Pore had 6, Peterkin netted 5, and Brown, Cailin Moore and Tristan Chavis added 2 apiece.
Brown contributed 18 rebounds, Peterkin had 7 and Bryant finished with 6. Brown also added 3 assists.
Hamlet (1-1) will travel to East Hoke on January 9.
Rockets head into 2023 undefeated
The Rockingham boys basketball team earned a pair of victories this week. The first was a 36-32 barnburner against Carver in its home opener and the second was a 53-32 road win at Ellerbe Middle.
On Monday, Rockingham and Carver battled to a near stalemate in the first quarter with the Rockets taking a 9-8 advantage into the second period.
With Chance Crowder carrying most of the load for Rockingham, multiple Eagles were able to add to the scoreboard with Samier Pate, Nasiah McLean, Javeer Pasley, Briley Lewis, Matthew Carter and Chase Sheppard all scoring in the first half helping the visiting Eagles take a 21-17 lead into the break.
The two teams broke even in the third quarter with each team netting 7 points keeping Carver’s four-point lead intact at 28-24 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
Carver extended its lead to six with a layup from McLean with 7:23 left to play followed by a four and-a-half minute drought by both teams.
Rockingham’s BJ Hinson scored his only points of the game with 2:50 left when he found the net on a long three-point attempt. His lone basket couldn’t have come at a better time and was the spark that the Rockets needed.
A minute later, Crowder stripped the ball from Carver and was fouled on his shot attempt which found the basket. He completed the old-fashioned three-point play to knot the game at 30-30.
A put back by Sheppard with 1:26 remaining gave the lead back to Carver and Crowder went 1-of-2 on Rockingham’s next possession to make it a one-point game at 32-31 with 1:16 left in the game.
Both teams came up empty on their next possessions, but Crowder made the biggest basket of the game when was true on a 3-pointer with just 44 seconds left putting the Rockets ahead 34-32. CJ Covington and Andrae Streeter each added a free throw for Rockingham in the final moments to ice the game.
Crowder finished with a game high 25 points. Covington, Streeter, and Hinson netted 3 apiece and Cameron Coley scored 2.
On Wednesday, the Rockets traveled to Ellerbe to face the Wildcats. Ellerbe entered the game 0-2 after falling on the road at Carver in its season opener last week and dropping a 42-21 decision to East Hoke on Monday.
Rockingham scored early and often turning every Wildcat miscue into points. Five different Rockets (Crowder, Coley, Streeter, Hinson and Graham Odom) combined to score 28 points in the opening quarter with 14 of those points scored on fast breaks following Ellerbe turnovers.
The Wildcats were kept alive with the long ball, netting three 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough. Once the lead ballooned to 20 early in the second, Coach Deion Green, who was filling in for head coach Julius Bowden, began subbing in players. The game balanced out with the two teams essentially breaking even in the final three quarter resulting in a 53-32 Rocket win.
Hinson finished with 11 for the Rockets, Odom netted 6, and Cameron Everett had 5. Crowder, Streeter, Xander Chavis and Josiah Brewington each added 4 points, Coley scored 3, and Covington, Kerick Hairston, Julius Bowden, Devin Hanes and Kamel Tillman had 2-apiece.
Rockingham (3-0) will next host Spring Hill on Jan. 12, while Ellerbe (0-3) not play again until January 19 when it travels to Anson Middle.
Note: Deion Green, Grover McDonald, and Keith Parsons assisted with stats and information.
