PEMBROKE — Always playing with his emotions on his sleeve, Jordan McNeill thrives in the high-pressure environments with large crowds like the Robeson County Shootout and road Sandhills Athletic Conference games.
Friday was another one of those road conference games with the most hostile Purnell Swett crowd providing a Shootout-like feel as he witnessed jeering and taunting, both verbally and visibly with signs, for one last game at his school’s rivals. With the spotlight on him, the Lumberton senior was comfortable being the villain to the near-capacity crowd at Purnell Swett.
“It feels like a whole ‘nother level. It don’t even feel like high school ball,” McNeill said after scoring a game-high 26 points in a 61-43 win for Lumberton. “(I’d rather they) be against me. It makes me go harder.
“I just went out there to go get it.”
The crowd was against him, and so was the score for the first half as Lumberton (13-2, 4-1 SAC) had to fight its way out from a deficit that Purnell Swett (5-9, 3-4 SAC) controlled for most of the first half. But that’s what Lumberton has come to expect ranked inside the top 10 in many 4A basketball polls with one of the best records in the Sandhills Athletic Conference.
“Everybody’s been trying to come after us. We are 13-2 now so everybody is going to try and get us,” McNeill said. “We’ve got to be careful.”
Purnell Swett took a 27-24 lead at the half after an inspired performance in the first half from senior big man Xavier Jones and junior wing Cameron Ferguson. The Rams led by as much as six points in the first half.
In the second half, defensive adjustments helped the Pirates claw back into the game.
“The first half, defensively, we were out of sync, we were chasing them. We kind of got into the hype of the crowd, which I kind of figured we would do,” Lumberton coach Bryant Edwards said. “We gave them hope in that first half. At halftime I told them we’ve got to take that hope away. The first few minutes of the third we did.”
After posting the solid first half with the start he wanted to see, Purnell Swett coach Jeremy Sampson saw the effects of the Pirates’ defense.
“Their defensive intensity kind of hurt us and I felt like we lacked effort there in the third quarter,” he said. “That was huge. I don’t know if some guys got tired. It was a different environment, but we’ve got to be better next time.”
The Lumberton backcourt came out with active hands in the passing lanes in the third period. Purnell Swett’s lead melted away over the first four minutes of the quarter and then used seven straight points from McNeill to put the Pirates up for good. The senior posted 10 of his 26 points in the third.
“They played some good D on me. They tried to contain the middle a little bit,” McNeill said. “The second half was a better half and we started killing them.”
The momentum from the run out of halftime bled over into the fourth as Lumberton opened with an 11-0 run — which was 15-0 spanning across the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters — to take a 51-35 lead that was interrupted by a Ferguson 3-pointer with 4:33 left in the game.
Jones had 16 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Rams, while Ferguson had 14 points. Charlie Miller added eight points for Lumberton, while Michael Todd had seven.
Now at the halfway point of conference play, having played every league opponent except for Scotland, Edwards has seen positives and areas of improvement for his team.
“We’ve got to shoot free throws and from outside the perimeter a little better to open things up,” Edwards said. “Defensively we are keeping guys under 50, which is something my teams have always done. Defensively, we are kind of hitting our stride, but offensively we’ve got to start cooking a little bit.”
Lumberton is off until next Friday at Hoke, and Purnell Swett plays at Heide Trask on Monday before it hosts Richmond on Friday.
Purnell Swett girls pummel Lumberton
Heading into the rivalry matchup with Lumberton girls basketball team, Purnell Swett used the scars of past games in the rivalry against the Pirates to fuel its revenge at home on Friday.
“Today when we had our pregame meal, the first thing I did was put up the score the last five years of what Lumberton has been able to do. I wanted to remind them that we are playing for a lot more than just ourselves,” Purnell Swett coach Jonathan Efird said. “We’ve really rotating well and clicking on defense, talking and communicating. We’re really being active and it shows.”
The Rams handed Lumberton a 54-27 defeat, similar to those that Purnell Swett has suffered in recent years in the series. The win is the Rams’ first win in the series since 2012.
“It felt good to beat them. We just gave it all we got and left everything out on the court,” Purnell Swett junior Jada Coward said after the first win over her rivals. “(Efird) preached to us this season about heart and told us he had been waiting for this game for 365 days.”
Purnell Swett (9-6, 5-2 SAC) jumped ahead early and didn’t look back, taking a 17-2 lead after one quarter. The lead over Lumberton (8-7, 1-4 SAC) grew to 20 points midway through the second quarter and the Rams led 28-3 at the half.
In the second half, Lumberton coach Sam Davis saw the return of his team to a better state than he saw in the first quarter.
“We didn’t put the kind of effort (in the first half) that we did in the second half,” Davis said. “We came out in the second half and pushed the tempo, started playing and started getting good shots.”
Kylie Chavis led all scorers with 23 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Coward added 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers, and Natalie Evington had eight points for the Rams.
Lumberton scored 24 points in the second half. August Smith had nine points to lead all Lumberton scorers and Jaylen Carter had eight points.
Both teams are off until next Friday as Lumberton is at Hoke, and Purnell Swett hosts Richmond.
Fairmont splits with Knights
FAIRMONT — The Fairmont basketball teams saw split results in the Three Rivers Conference matchup against West Bladen at home on Friday.
In the girls game, Fairmont lost 41-38 and had an attempt at the buzzer to force overtime that was off the mark against the Knights.
After straggling behind West Bladen for the first quarter, an 8-0 Fairmont run late in the second quarter drew the Golden Tornadoes closer for the remainder of the game.
Jakirra White had 10 points and 16 rebounds to lead Fairmont’s girls (5-10, 4-4 TRC), while Amyrikal Vaught and Paris Bethea each had nine points.
West Bladen was led in scoring by Lexie Corrothers with 12 points and Seniah Johnson with 11 points.
In the boys contest, Fairmont used a 23-point second quarter to take control for a 75-60 win.
Fairmont (8-7, 6-2 TRC) was led in scoring by Kobe Davis with 13 points and 13 rebounds, as well as Cedreke Smith with 13 points and eight rebounds. West Bladen’s Tyre Boykin scored 29 points.
Fairmont goes to West Columbus on Tuesday.
St. Pauls sweeps East Columbus
LAKE WACCAMAW — Both St. Pauls basketball teams claimed Three Rivers Conference wins at East Columbus on Friday.
The St. Pauls boys (12-4, 8-2 TRC) used a 29-point second quarter for a 76-56 win over the Gators.
The St. Pauls girls (14-0, 9-0 TRC) stayed on top of the Three Rivers Conference with a 62-14 win.
Jakieya Thompson had 13 points and seven steals to lead the Bulldogs. Tamyra Council had eight points and eight rebounds, while Taliya Council and Braxtin Kinlaw each netted seven points.
St. Pauls girls will play at the MLK Classic hosted at Red Springs against Scotland on Monday at 4 p.m. The boys play next at South View on Wednesday.
