Scotland basketball squads lose to Pinecrest for second time

LAURINBURG —The Lady Scots basketball team dropped a 52-48 decision to the visiting Pinecrest Patriots on Friday night at Scotland High School. Scotland falls to 11-7 (5-5 against SAC opponents) on the season with the loss while Pinecrest improves to 12-10 (7-3 against conference teams) with their third straight victory. The Patriots have taken both regular season meetings from the Scots as they also beat Scotland 48-45 back on Jan. 9.

The Scots came out of the gates on a mission, scoring nine of the first 11 points in 4:21 to start the contest on two baskets from Alicia McClain, an and-one conversion from Kayla Simmons and another bucket from Morgan Thompson. McClain would add another two free throws shortly after to help Scotland end the first eight minutes of action up 11-6.

Though the Patriots got the first point of the second period on a free throw from Emma Kirk, a three-pointer from Madison Dixon gave Scotland a 14-7 lead with 6:33 left until halftime. Unfortunately for the Scots, they couldn’t keep the momentum going as Pinecrest immediately responded with 10 unanswered points, a run that was only stopped by a Thompson bucket with 94 seconds left in the half. The Patriots would tack on another five unanswered points before the break and were up 21-16 heading into the third quarter.

Things didn’t get any easier for the Scots in the third, with Pinecrest scoring the first nine points of the half before Dixon knocked down another three-pointer with 3:41 left in the quarter. Thompson would also add a basket to temporarily bring the margin down to nine (30-21) but the Patriots responded with another seven unanswered points to go up by 16 (37-21). Gabrielle Donze converted an and-one with 16 left in the period to put the cherry on top of a dominant Pinecrest frame as they led 41-21 after 24 minutes.

While the Scots were able to erase a sizable deficit in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night against Jack Britt, Head Coach Roshien McClain doesn’t want that to become a formula they rely on every night. He knew that outscoring the Buccaneers 20-3 in the fourth was impressive but that it’s not sustainable over lengthy periods.

“You can’t dig yourself a hole and fight back as much as we did and expect to win basketball games all the time,” McClain said. “It’s the same predicament we had the other night and we were good the other night but it was a different team we faced tonight.”

The Scots didn’t make any serious progress on trimming the deficit down in the early stages of the fourth quarter as they still trailed 48-30 with 4:42 left in regulation. Scotland would go on a quick 7-0 run that was capped off by a Dixon three-pointer and brought the margin down to 11 (48-37) with 2.5 minutes remaining. Still, Pinecrest still seemed to have the game wrapped up, at least until Scotland scored 11 unanswered points in under two minutes that made the score 50-48 with just 20 seconds left. Aniya McGregor would get fouled and knock down two free throws with 17 seconds left to allow the Patriots to narrowly fend off a ferocious Scotland rally.

There was some controversy on the ending as it appeared to McClain as though McGregor dribbled the ball off her foot prior to getting fouled. Still, McClain isn’t using the officiating as an excuse as he mentioned the need to play better for all four quarters and not leave the fate of the game in the hands of the refs.

“It was a questionable call,” McClain said. “It is what it is, we should’ve played better in the second and third quarters and we wouldn’t have had to fight back down 20.”

Thompson led Scotland in scoring with 19 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter. Dixon added 12 on four made three-pointers.

The Scots will head on the road for the final time in the regular season on Tuesday night when they travel to face Lee County. Scotland beat the Yellow Jackets 44-26 back on Jan. 14. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Even with the tough loss, McClain knows there is still a lot in front of his team. His message is to simply keep moving ahead and look for some momentum heading into the SAC tournament.

“Just keep playing,” McClain said. “We’re still in position for the playoffs, Lee County has their senior night Tuesday and then you got your senior night Friday. Try to get some wins going into the conference tournament.”

Boys basketball crushed by Patriots

The Scots were defeated by Pinecrest 65-46 on Friday night at Scotland High School. Scotland falls to 4-15 (2-8 in conference games) on the season with their third straight loss while the Patriots snap their three-game losing streak and improve to 13-7 (6-4 against SAC opponents) with the win. Pinecrest has taken both regular season matchups as they won the first meeting 59-36 back on Jan. 14.

Due to unforseen events that occurred earlier in the week, the Scots entered Friday without several players. Being shorthanded was certainly a blow to Head Coach Michael Malpass and company as Malpass believes Scotland had recently found an identity when they were at full strength, though he was appreciative of the energy the players available played with.

“We had finally figured out our identity with pressing and generating more opportunities,” Malpass said. “The identity we had to play tonight is not who we’ve become because we were shorthanded and had to do some different things. I was proud of our guys, I felt like their attitudes were good and they gave great effort tonight.”

The first quarter started off as a slugfest with each team only having two points over three minutes into the game (at the 4:39 mark). Dajuan Gibson had two baskets in the span of a minute to keep Scotland within two at 8-6 with 2:20 left in the opening quarter. The Patriots then went on a 10-3 run through the end of the period that included seven unanswered points as Pinecrest would be up 18-9 after eight minutes.

The Patriots scored four straight points within the first minute of the second quarter, though Scotland answered back with five unanswered on a three-pointer from Cam Prince and a bucket from Gibson. Pinecrest never took their foot off the gas, going on a 10-2 surge to increase the advantage up to 16 (32-16) with two minutes until halftime. Carter Williams would get on the score sheet for Scotland while Gibson knocked down a three-pointer but the Patriots would score another five unanswered before the break and be up 39-21 after two quarters.

Things didn’t get any easier for the Scots in the third quarter with Pinecrest scoring the first six points of the second half as part of a 10-2 run with Scotland not getting their first basket until three minutes had passed. Scotland would find themselves trailing by as many as 26 (49-23) with 3:50 left in the period, though they would go on a 13-4 run through the end of the quarter to make it a 53-36 game after 24 minutes.

The deficit Scotland found themselves in would simply be too much to overcome in eight minutes of time. Even with the momentum of the run from the end of the third, the Scots couldn’t ever creep much closer to even as the closest they would get was 16 points (54-38 and 60-44). The Patriots always kept Scotland at an arms distance throughout the final stages as they cruised to victory.

Gibson paced the Scots in scoring with 19 points. Jesse Clifton added seven.

The Scots will head back on the road Tuesday night when they travel to face Lee County. Scotland beat the Yellow Jackets 51-49 back on Jan. 14. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

In order for Scotland to get back in the win column, Malpass sees two things as important. They need to re-establish who they are capable of being and get back to full strength.

“We have to be in our identity,” Malpass said. “If you’re having to reinvent the wheel a day before you play and you don’t have all of your guys it’s really hard to do well.”