In high school basketball action Thursday night, the Hobbton Wildcats and the James Kenan Tigers went head to head and came away with a split decision. The Wildcat men got a 51-50 last second victory; the girls fell … hard.
The boys’ game was close the first quarter, with Kenan holding a 14-10 lead at the end. In the second, they opened up the lead to 27-18. The Wildcats got hot the third quarter cutting Kenan’s lead to 2, 39-37. Going down to the wire, the Wildcats started pressing with less than a minute left. They were close the whole fourth quarter but couldn’t quite go ahead.
With 29 seconds left, Charles Chestnutt got an in-bounds steal and scored to put the Wildcats up 51-50. From there, it was a battle to hold on. Kenan had a chance to go back up but missed a layup with the Wildcats recovering.
A foul with five seconds left in the game gave the Wildcats a chance to widen the margin, but they missed. An inbounds battle gave the Wildcats the ball back to hold on for the win.
Wildcat coach Jeff Byrd said, “It was a good win. We made a few adjustments at the half. We made the free throws down the stretch when we didn’t earlier in the game. I have to give a lot of credit to all of them. They never quit like they have done all year. Finally, a few shots fell.”
That was the Wildcat boys’ first conference win.
The Wildcats had a balanced scoring night. Jonathan Faison led the Wildcats with 15 points. Rashad Davis and Jamal Bell add 10 each. Donald Farrior hit for 6 more.
Lady ‘Cats
The girls’ game was all Kenan. The Tiger girls won 74-21, going on a 30-2 run the first quarter and never looking back.
Both Wildcat leading scorers, Michaela Wilson and Sasha Martin, were playing sick. The high scoring duo only had 14 points between them with Martin picking up 12. Casey Hobbs and Hannah Warren had 2 each. Madisyn Bauser chipped in 1.
Wildcat coach Alfonso Harper said, “It was a tough night. They came out with a good game plan against us. They pressed us and we made too many turnovers. We came out flat. Both my leading players were down with the flu and they tried to play through it but they couldn’t. Both were throwing up in the locker room at the half. They tried the second half but just didn’t have it.
“Not taking anything away from James Kenan, their pressure took us out of our offense and we just couldn’t get anything going. I told the girls just do the best you can the second half and try to play with them and then forget this game and look at the next one.”
James Kenan’s JV boys won 67-21, also.
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