ROCKY POINT — As four Robeson County high school basketball teams took to the court for the second round of the state playoffs on Friday, the two higher-seeded teams playing at home both lost, while the two lower-seeded teams won on the road.

Tuesday night, the Fairmont boys and St. Pauls girls will look to be road warriors yet again as they travel for the third round in the 2A East Region.

Fairmont takes on Heide Trask in a 7 p.m. game in Rocky Point; St. Pauls will face Northeastern at 6 p.m. in Elizabeth City.

Fairmont at Heide Trask

The Golden Tornadoes will seek their first fourth-round appearance since 2018 in Tuesday’s clash with the Titans.

Heide Trask (24-4), the No. 6 seed, is champion of the Waccamaw Conference after a perfect run through league play.

“Once again it’s going to be a grind from start to finish,” Fairmont coach Montrell McNair said. “We both play solid man-to-man, pick up full court and play it for 32 minutes; it’s going to be a battle.”

Heide Trask reached the third round with a 70-67 win over No. 11 Martin County on Friday; the Titans beat SouthWest Edgecombe 77-57 in the first round last Tuesday.

No. 14 Fairmont (21-5) defeated No. 3 West Bladen 59-38 on Friday after a 60-47 first-round win over No. 19 Granville Central.

Myron McKoy (20.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 4.4 steals per game) leads the Titans, accounting through scoring or assists for about half the team’s points.

“That’s going to be a really big challenge to try and contain Myron,” McNair said. “He’s been doing this for four years; he didn’t just start this. We already know we’ve got our work cut out for us, and as far as trying to contain him that’s going to be hard. We’re going to stay solid defensively and try not to let him beat us up too much getting in the paint.”

Sherrod Henderson (14.6 points, 11.8 rebounds) provides a strong complement in the post for Heide Trask.

“He brings a lot of athleticism,” McNair said. “He’s a 6-(foot)-3 kid, he’s physical, can jump. He’s a workhorse, he goes after everything and never gives up on the play. So he gives them a lot on top of what Myron’s already giving them, so we’re going to have to bring our best game.”

Martez Davis (9.0 points) and Josiah Brown (5.9 points) provide additional backcourt production for the Titans, while Gio Driggers (9.5 points, 7.2 rebounds) and Bradford Bannerman (7.9 points, 5.1 rebounds) are key players alongside Henderson in the frontcourt.

“Their role players really step in and do the job; it’s not just on Myron’s shoulders,” McNair said. “He distributes and runs the show and settles things down; those guys hit shots.”

With lots of good guard play throughout both lineups, McNair says the post play of each team could make the difference in the game.

“If we can do a great job rebounding I think we’ll definitely be in the game, and finishing around the basket,” McNair said.

Heide Trask reached the first round of the state playoffs in 2021, the second round in 2022 and the third round last year, giving the Titans an experience advantage over a Golden Tornadoes team that hadn’t been past the first round in recent years until this season.

But Friday’s convincing win by Fairmont in a hostile environment provides confidence and momentum for the Golden Tornadoes, who would be playing either on the road or at a neutral site for the rest of the playoffs should they continue to advance.

“You look at our record right now, we’ve won more games on the road than we have at home,” McNair said. “The competition we have in our conference also has prepared us for going up against tough teams on the road, and we’ve had a strong nonconference schedule. All those factors came into play with getting us prepared for big games like this in the playoffs.”

The Fairmont-Heide Trask winner will face the winner of No. 2 Goldsboro and No. 7 Hertford County in the fourth round on Friday.

St. Pauls at Northeastern

After returning home from Jacksonville with a win over Southwest Onslow on Friday, St. Pauls may have the longest third-round trip of any team in the state for Tuesday’s game at Northeastern, located in Elizabeth City.

“It’s go time,” St. Pauls coach Jaymar Thompson said. “Last Friday everybody had us as the underdog, and I told somebody then, all you have to do is show up one game at a time. … You lose, you go home, and these girls aren’t ready to go home.”

The No. 15 Bulldogs (19-5) enter the game off Friday’s 65-54 win over second-seeded Southwest Onslow, which gave the Stallions their first loss of the season. St. Pauls won 73-72 over No. 18 SouthWest Edgecombe in the first round last Tuesday.

No. 7 Northeastern (22-7) advanced with a 58-45 win over No. 10 Goldsboro on Friday after a 73-31 first-round win over No. 26 North Lenoir.

The Bulldogs and Eagles have recent history, a neutral-site meeting on Dec. 3, 2022; Northeastern won 69-63 after overcoming a 33-19 St. Pauls halftime lead. Jasmine Felton scored 37 points with 28 rebounds for Northeastern in that game; Jashontae Harris led St. Pauls with 24 points.

Felton has been the standout player for the Eagles this season, too, averaging 26.6 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.4 blocks per game.

“You can’t stop them completely; there’s no way you’re going to have them where she’s not going to be able to score no points,” Thompson said. “You just try your best to keep her below her average and slow down everybody else. That’s how I try to do it, don’t let nobody else have a big game. … I know she gets the majority of her points off the foul line, so I’m going to try to keep her off the foul line. If we can do that, we should be alright, as long as we don’t give nobody else 20-something (points).”

No one else averages more than 7.0 points for the Eagles, though four players form a second tier of scorers for the team: Jada Simpson (7.0 points, 2.8 assists), Azaria Gallop (6.8 points, 3.0 steals), Sanai Alexander (5.5 points) and Gabriella Furges (4.6 points).

“They’re an aggressive team,” Thompson said. “They’ve got a star and they know how to play around her. I don’t take nobody for granted, plus they’re playing at home.”

Both programs are normal contenders into the deeper rounds of the state playoffs. St. Pauls advanced to the round of 16 for the fifth-straight season, including a regional final appearance in 2022, three third-round trips and a second-round berth in a smaller playoff field in 2021, which was ended abruptly and off the court due to COVID-19 protocols.

Northeastern reached the fourth round last season and the second round in 2022.

“It’s good to see some of names and be part of that same mix,” Thompson said. “That’s big for the community and the town. You look up, it’s the same ones from last year pretty much, playing different opponents but the same ones. That means we’re doing something right.”

St. Pauls is chartering a bus for the 3 1/2 hour ride to the northeastern coastal plains. Thompson hopes an early arrival can help create the comfort necessary for the Bulldogs to play their best.

“We’ll get there early, walk around the gym; we got to Southwest Onslow about 4 o’clock and the girls got some shots up,” Thompson said. “Just getting them comfortable, as comfortable as they can get.”

The lowest seed remaining in the 2A girls state tournament, St. Pauls will be playing either on the road or at a neutral site for the duration of their playoff run, should they continue to advance.

The St. Pauls-Northeastern winner will advance to face either No. 3 Seaforth or No. 11 Northwood in Friday’s fourth round. Seaforth defeated St. Pauls in the third round of last year’s playoffs.