North Lenoir's Darnell Matthews (11) drives to the hoop Tuesday in the first quarter against Tarboro
Janet Sutton/ The Free Press
North Lenoir boys lose a close one to Tarboro Vikings
LA GRANGE — A year ago, North Lenoir picked up a late-season victory against Tarboro for the Hawks’ only win in Eastern Plains 2A play. Turns out turnabout is fair play.
“I reminded our guys that we were in the same situation last year and that a team like Tarboro, with nothing to lose, could come in here and win,” said NL coach John Eric Waters, whose Hawks dropped a 62-59 decision to Tarboro, which entered the game 0-8 in EP2A play.
“It’s always a good game when you play North Lenoir,” said Vikings coach Leshaun Jen-kins. “Hats off to North Lenoir. They’re a good team, but our guys wanted it more tonight.”
It was North Lenoir’s fourth consecutive loss, and this one came down to a frenzied ending that offered plenty of excitement for a raucous crowd hoping to see a frustrating losing streak snapped.
Instead, the loss threw an already wide-open Eastern Plains race into even more chaos. With Greene Central’s loss to Goldsboro Tuesday night, the Hawks (11-12 overall, 3-6 EP2A) find themselves in a tie for the fourth and final EPC playoff berth with the Rams. North Lenoir hosts Greene Central Friday night in both teams’ regular season finales, and the game will take on even more weight as both teams vie for the conference’s final spot in the state playoffs.
North Lenoir had ample opportunities to avoid the log-jam in the conference standings Tuesday night against the Vikings. Both teams traded leads in the first quarter of what looked like an old-fashioned shootout, with Tarboro grabbing a 24-21 lead after the first quarter.
The teams cooled down in the second quarter, and the Vikings took a 39-32 lead into the half-time locker room. Tarboro upped its lead to as much as nine points mid-way through the third quarter, but the Hawks refused to give up, ending the quarter on a 12-3 run to knot the score at 49-49 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Hawks were aided by an 0-for-13 Tarboro slump, but North Lenoir returned the favor with an 0-for-10 drought of its own that spanned nearly 5 minutes and allowed Tarboro to rebuild a six-point lead.
Marquez Powell, who finished with 14 points, finally ended the Hawks’ slump with an of-fensive rebound and put-back at the 2:58 mark to cut North’s deficit to 56-52.
Tarboro once again extended its lead to six at 60-54 with 1:30 to play, but a final, wild 90 seconds would ultimately determine the outcome.
North’s Terrance Harris, who had two points, hit the front end of a 1-and-1 to make it 60-55. Chris McPhail (six points) stole the ball on Tarboro’s next possession, and a long outlet pass to Joel Bizzell (11 points) for a lay-up put North within three points at 60-57. North’s defense forced yet another Tarboro turnover (one of 25 for the night) with 55 seconds to play. Seconds later, Tim Roberts (14 points) cut the deficit to a single point at 60-59.
The Hawks fouled on their next possession, and Tarboro missed the front end of a 1-and-1, appearing to give North Lenoir a chance to win it on their final possession. Instead, the Vi-kings’ Javon Jenkins boarded the miss and scored two of his 17 points to give Tarboro a three-point lead.
North brought the ball down the court, and with 12 seconds to play, the ball was knocked out of bounds by a Tarboro player under the Hawks’ basket. Tyler Potter, the Hawks’ 3-point specialist, put the ball in play for North, but the Vikings’ stifling defense forced a loose-ball situation. With both teams scrambling for the ball near mid-court, time ran out before North Lenoir could get off a final shot.
“We brought Potter in to take the ball out,” said Waters. “Tarboro did a good job of staying on him. The ball was supposed to come back to him in the corner.”
NORTH LENOIR GIRLS 51, TARBORO 46: North Lenoir’s girls seized momentum at the right time in a wild 51-46 conference win over visiting Tarboro.
North Lenoir trailed 8-6 after the first, 21-18 at the half and 35-32 after three quarters. The fourth quarter saw 10 ties or lead changes, but clutch shooting by the Hawks allowed North Lenoir to escape with the victory.
NL’s Helena Davis led all scorers with 20 points, and Kristen Davenport added 14.
“We left it all out on the floor,” said NL coach Anthony Loftin. “We knew if we won tonight and Friday, we would defend our conference championship. But we also knew Tarboro plays real tough.
“We got down at the half and stayed behind, but we got a couple of stops and got back in it.”
