Local roundup: Pirates survive 1st round on Allen's buzzer-beater

The Robesonian, Lumberton, N.C.
Updated ·3 min read

Feb. 22—LUMBERTON — In the playoffs, expect the unexpected — anything can happen.

Craziness happened Tuesday night at Lumberton.

Ayhem Allan nailed a straightaway 3 at the buzzer, giving the Lumberton boys basketball team a 62-59 win over visiting Clayton in the first round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state playoffs.

Lumberton (23-12), the No. 7 seed in the 4A East Region, will host No. 10 New Bern in Thursday's second round; New Bern beat No. 23 Pinecrest 70-66 Tuesday.

Allan's game-winner was preceded by a game-tying putback by Jaiden Shephard with about a minute left. Lumberton trailed 59-55 in the closing minutes before J.B. Brockington scored the first basket of the stretch run with a layup-and-1, but missed the free throw.

Brockington had 22 points with six rebounds and eight assists for the Pirates. Tre Lewis, Jacob Hammonds and Shephard all scored 12 points each; Lewis had 14 rebounds and Shephard grabbed 12 rebounds.

Allan scored just three points — the ones that counted most.

No. 26 Clayton ends its season at 14-12.

Purnell Swett girls advance

The Purnell Swett girls basketball team advanced to the second round of the 4A state playoffs with a 59-42 win over Southeast Raleigh.

Eighth-seeded Purnell Swett (23-5) will face No. 24 South View in the second round; the Tigers beat No. 9 Overhills 52-49 in the first round Tuesday. The Rams swept both regular-season meetings against South View, a United-8 Conference foe.

The Rams led No. 25 Southeast Raleigh (17-9) 18-10 at the end of the first quarter, 33-14 at halftime and 45-24 at the end of the third.

Natalie Evington scored 24 points with five steals for Purnell Swett, Kylie Chavis had 21 points with eight rebounds, four assists and five steals and Nyla Mitchell had 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and five steals. Niyah Locklear led the Rams in rebounding with nine.

Red Springs boys fall at the buzzer

The Red Springs boys saw a 10-point third-quarter lead disappear as 14th-seeded Northeastern came from behind to beat the 19th-seeded Red Devils 56-53 when the Eagles' Xavier McNeal hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Red Springs (17-10) led Northeastern (16-9) 18-11 after the first quarter, 35-31 at halftime and 43-41 at the end of the third. The Eagles outscored the Red Devils 15-10 in the fourth.

Jaylen Sturdivant led Red Springs with 27 points, Makhi Arthur scored 14 and Kohnner Oxendine had eight.

Tyell Saunders scored 19 points to lead Northeastern, TyQuan Harvey had 14 and McNeal scored 13.

Richmond routs Purnell Swett boys

The Purnell Swett boys struggled defensively from the start and suffered a 96-57 loss at Richmond.

The second-seeded Raiders hit 17 triples, including a school-record 10 by Jullien Cole, who scored 38 points. Richmond (24-2) led the 31st-seeded Rams 35-13 after the first quarter, 56-26 at halftime and 89-49 at the end of the third.

Connor Harris scored 13 points, four assists and three steals, Collin Sampson had 10 and Marcus Lowry and Jaquese Graham each had nine for Purnell Swett (12-14). Lowry and Riley Brooks each had five rebounds

Behind Cole, Paul McNeil had 17 points for Richmond and J.V. Drake had 13.

Fairmont boys, Red Springs girls eliminated

The 19th-seeded Red Springs girls lost 77-46 at 14th-seeded East Bladen. The Eagles led 34-27 at halftime before outscoring the Red Devils 43-19 in the second half.

Fairmont's boys faced a stiff test at No. 1 Farmville Central in the 2A East first round and fell by a 79-34 final. The Jaguars led the Golden Tornadoes 21-4 after the first quarter, 51-16 at halftime and 68-24 at the end of the third.