LAURINBURG — After winning its first four games of the season by an average of 50 points, the Scotland Christian Academy boys basketball team got a “wake-up call” on Thursday night.
The Saints were pushed to the limit by non-conference opponent Maranatha Christian School. The Bulldogs of Maranatha held a 26-22 halftime lead. After the Saints found their groove and took a 42-36 lead at the end of the third period, the Bulldogs rallied to tie the score with a little more than four minutes left in the game.
Scotland Christian’s Lacota Locklear then went to the free throw line for two shots. He made the first and missed the second. Teammate Brodie Clark grabbed the rebound and made a basket to give the Saints a 45-42 lead. Scotland Christian never relinquished that lead despite a late surge by the Bulldogs. That surge included a 3-pointer that cut Scotland Christian’s lead to 53-52 with 10 seconds left in the game. The Bulldogs then intentionally fouled Rodney Locklear, who made a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game with eight seconds left. Maranatha’s attempt to get a desperation shot off resulted in a turnover, and Scotland Christian won 55-52.
“One of my boys said we needed a wake-up call. And we did,” Scotland Christian head coach Roger Duffel said. “That’s a good ballclub, and we’re going to have to go down to their place (later in the season).
“In the first half we shot 22 percent,” he added. “For the whole game, we shot over 50 percent. That shows you what we did in the second half. We were a different team in the second half.”
Clark and Rodney Locklear spearheaded Scotland Christian’s second-half resurgence. Clark finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Locklear tallied 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Micah Dean also made a big difference on the boards, finishing with nine rebounds and six points.
“We responded well,” Clark said. “We didn’t have a good shooting night, but we stuck with it. We played hard and fought through adversity.
“It was our first time being down this year, and we realized that we needed to pick it up.”
The Saints remained undefeated with a 6-0 record.
“We’re still young. I’ve got a couple new boys that are learning,” Duffel said. “They’re young, but they pick up things quickly and they work hard.”
The win was especially important for the Saints as they look to build more momentum before they head to their holiday tournament, the HTC Tip-Off Classic in Conway, South Carolina, on Dec. 12-14.
The Saints know they’ll be tested again at that tournament.
“We need to go into our Christmas tournament undefeated with really good momentum, because we’re going to play really good competition,” Clark said. “We’re going to be undersized, and we’re going to have to really play hard.”
The Saints have one home game on their schedule before the holiday tournament. They’ll host local opponent Christ the Cornerstone on Monday night.
