LAURINBURG — It’s been four years since the Fighting Scots advanced to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A playoffs, on Tuesday the team returns to the tournament.
The NCHSAA announced the playoff brackets over the weekend on their website, with first-round action slated to begin tonight.
The Fighting Scots earned the No. 12 seed in the 4A West and will host No. 21 West Mecklenburg at 7 p.m. Tickets for the game will be $6. The winner will travel to Marion on Thursday to play No. 5 McDowell (21-6).
Scotland wrapped up the regular season with a 17-8 record and 9-5 in conference play to finish second in the first year of the Sandhills Athletic Conference. The Scots were runners-up in the SAC-8 tournament after a 73-65 loss to Hoke in Raeford on Friday.
The 17-8 record is a 12-year best for the program, prior to this season the Scots best record came in 2014-15 under former head coach Michael Malpass when the team finished 15-9 and a regular-season Southeastern Conference championship.
The Hawks are 12-14 overall and finished 6-6 in the South Meck 7 Conference and were eliminated in the second round of their conference tournament with a 61-45 loss to Olympic. West Mecklenburg is led in scoring by senior Elijiah Lockhart who is averaging 16.6 points per game. Lockhart also leads the team in blocks with 4.2 per game and 2.4 steals per game.
The Scots were one of four SAC-8 teams to advance to the 4A finals along with Hoke, Lumberton and Pinecrest. The reigning conference champion Bucks (25-1, 14-0) earned the No. 5 seed in the East and a first-round bye. They will host the winner of No. 12 Apex and No. 21 Middle Creek on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.
Also in the East, Lumberton (12-14, 4-7) earned the No. 19 seed and will travel to No. 14 Millbrook (15-12) on Tuesday. The winner of that game will travel to Wake Forest to play No. 3 Heritage (21-4) in the second round.
The Scots were joined in the West by Pinecrest (19-7), who earned the No. 14 seed and will host No. 19 Davie (18-8) on Feb. 20 in Southern Pines. The winner of Pincrest and Davie will play No. 3 Olympic (20-4) in Charlotte on Feb. 22 in the second round.
LADY SCOTS
The Lady Scots basketball team missed the 4A playoffs with a 3-18 overall record — it’s the second year in a row the team has missed the 4A playoffs.
Representing the women’s side of the Sandhills Athletic Conference in the playoffs will be Lumberton, Pinecrest, Seventy-First and Jack Britt.
The Lady Patriots earned the No. 6 seed in the West, the highest for the SAC-8 women, with a 23-2 record. Pinecrest earned a first-round bye and will host the winner of No. 11 Zebulon B. Vance and No. 22 Jack Britt on Thursday.
The Lady Bucanneers finished the season 11-12 to earn the No. 22 seed in the West.
Lumberton is on the East side of the bracket and earned the No. 12 seed and will host a familiar foe in No. 21 Seventy-First. The Lady Pirates finished 23-4 while the Lady Falcons wrapped up their season 16-10. In their two previous meetings during the regular season, Lumberton got the better of the Lady Falcons — 62-54 in December and 64-44 in January.
The winner of the Lumberton vs. Seventy-First game will head to No. 5 Holly Springs (19-5) on Feb. 22.
Amber Hatten-Staley can be reached at 910-506-3170 or [email protected].
