LUMBERTON — It was one more chance to play in front of friends and family, in a pressure-free, laid-back environment — a great opportunity for Robeson County’s high school basketball seniors.

It resulted in a fun way to spend a Saturday night at Lumberton High School in the Robeson County High School Basketball All-Star Games.

“I just wanted to come out and have fun,” said St. Pauls senior forward Marcus Galbreath, who was named MVP in the boys game. “Last time playing with everybody in Robeson County, so I just wanted to show out and have fun.”

The boys game was between the Red team, made up primarily of Lumberton players plus one from Red Springs, against the Blue team, made up of Purnell Swett and St. Pauls seniors.

The game was split into two halves, with the score resetting at halftime. Red won the first half 60-45; Blue won the second half 46-41.

“When those starters came out, we saw that they started playing hard,” Galbreath said. “So we were like, OK, so let’s lock in. I told the team, the rest of the boys told them, and we locked in and you see what the results were.”

The boys game featured 19 dunks and 18 made 3-pointers as the players had fun in practically a pickup-game-style environment.

“That was one of my top main goals coming into the game was to put on a show — do the best dunk, rebound, shoot, show what’s in my bag,” Galbreath said.

Lumberton head coach Bryant Edwards coached the Red team, primarily made up of his own players from the Pirates.

“It just kind of reminded me of how much I’m losing from this senior class,” Edwards joked. “But it was really fun, the guys got to play and have one last hoorah as seniors. It was actually a very exciting game. I was pleased with the turnout, good crowd here, good game so it was a lot of fun. … It was pretty fun to watch them play again and this will be their last time playing on this court, really. So that’s pretty cool.”

Galbreath scored 27 points for the Blue team, Purnell Swett’s Connor Harris scored 15, Purnell Swett’s Adarius Grissett had nine, St. Pauls’ Lukus Osborne had eight, and Purnell Swett’s Marcus Lowry and St. Pauls’ Elijah Blanding each scored six.

Lumberton’s Tre Lewis led the Red team with 24 points, Lumberton’s Jacob Hammonds had 18, Lumberton’s J.B. Brockington and Red Springs’ Carnelius Manning scored 14, Lumberton’s Jaiden Shephard scored 10, Lumberton’s Patrick McBride had nine and Lumberton’s Ayhem Allan had seven.

The girls game was played under a different format with only 10 senior players available, as a team of seniors from around Robeson County faced a team of underclassmen. After a back-and-forth game throughout, the seniors won 62-60.

“It was a lot of fun, being able to play with girls I really know, and able to have the seniors from Fairmont, St. Pauls, Red Springs and Lumberton,” said Purnell Swett senior guard Nyla Mitchell, who was named MVP of the girls game. “It was just fun being able to play with your friends.”

“I wanted everybody to enjoy themselves and have fun,” said Fairmont head coach Marcus Thompson, who coached the seniors team. “And then getting the chance to coach my seniors one last time, because they are extremely dear to me, that made it even more fun.”

The seniors-against-underclassmen format created a unique scenario in which high school teammates were playing on opposite teams.

“Playing against Niyah, watching her show out on the other team made me proud of what we’ve become, and what she’s become,” Mitchell said. “So it’s actually a lot of fun, playing against our friends and having fun.”

With a close game in the fourth quarter, the intensity went up a notch for both teams.

“We actually changed the lineup and got our actual defense there,” Mitchell said. “Being able to stop the ball a lot helped with that, and trying to find some offense. None of us were really hitting shots so our defense helped us out a lot; playing a 1-2-2 (zone) slowed them down on offense a little bit, and just being able to figure out our offense.”

“Those seniors, they didn’t want to lose, because they knew they were going to hear everybody’s mouth if they did lose,” Thompson said. “I know the twins (Miah and Niah Smith), (Zariah Locklear) and Taniya (Simms) weren’t going to let Paris (Bethea), Amyrikal (Vaught) or (Sydney Jacobs) live it down.”

St. Pauls’ Jashontae Harris hit a 3-pointer to give the underclassmen a 60-59 lead with 1:25 to go; Mitchell scored a traditional 3-point play on the other end with 1:08 to go to retake the lead 62-60.

“Jashontae shot that 3 in my face, so I was like, oh my God, I’ve got to get those back or they’re going to be up,” Mitchell said. “Just being able to see the court and know where I could get to the basket really easy, it helped me out a lot.”

Mitchell scored 18 points for the senior team, Fairmont’s Bethea had 10, Lumberton’s Carly Hammonds had nine points and Purnell Swett’s Natalie Evington and Red Springs’ Elora Oxendine each had six.

For the underclassmen team, Purnell Swett’s Niyah Locklear scored 14 points, Harris had 13, Red Springs’ Monica Washington had 11, Fairmont’s Zariah Locklear scored seven and Fairmont’s Miah Smith added six.