RAEFORD — A mid-court scramble for a loss ball appeared to be how Friday’s game between the Fighting Scots and Hoke was going to end as the final five second rapidly ticked off the clock. Somehow in the shuffle, the Scots Justin McRae found the ball, picked it up and while falling over a Hoke player drained a half-court shot to end the game into overtime.
The Scots bench and head coach Matt Justin weren’t sure what they had just seen, but they knew it was amazing. As the referees tried to regain control of the game, the Bucks inbounded the ball with 2.6 seconds left on the clock. The Scots defense smothered the Bucks and a half-court shot from Hoke’s D’coda Cummings bounced off the rim, the entire gym went crazy.
Hoke and Scotland would play four more minutes of basketball to determine a winner in the Southeastern conference showdown. Cummings and the Scots Niem Ratliffe exchanged baskets to start overtime to knot the two teams at 66. The Scots managed to pick off the Bucks but a turnover by the Scots Al Farmer gave the Bucks the ball back and sent Farmer to the bench with five fouls. At the line, Cummings gave his team the lead, 68-66.
Ratliffe pulled the Scots to within one after splitting a pair of free-throws. Back-to-back baskets by Cummings had the Hoke gym rocking as the band, fans and cheerleaders were on their feet. The Scots silenced the Bucks crowd as junior Trey Dixon hit a three-point shot to pull the Scots back to within two, 70-72.
Justin called a timeout to figure out a defensive strategy for this team to keep the ball out of Cummings hands and away from the net. Following the timeout, Hoke’s Andre Pegues went to the line and split his free throws to increase the Bucks lead to three with 29.6 seconds.
Another timeout by the Scots didn’t stop the Hoke fans from cheering so loud it was hard to think. After the timeout the Scots drove to the basket, but couldn’t get the shot to go down. On the final play of the game, Cummings found the basket to give the Bucks a 75-70 win and hand the Scots their second straight SEC loss.
The Hoke band danced out onto the court, screaming and dancing with their instruments in hand “nah, we ain’t scared.” It was the most rowdy, playoff-type atmosphere the Scots have experienced this season. The Hoke County school spirit was in full effect.
Even though the game eventually went into overtime, it was the Hoke offense that controlled the majority of the game. The Scots found themselves playing from behind for most of the night. The Bucks jumped out to a 3-19 lead in the first quarter before Tyrese Baucum drained a three to end the quarter.
The Hoke offense continued to drain shot after shot, which at one point saw the Scots down 8-24. After a motivating speech from Justin, the Scots defense stepped up and started to make plays and the offense started to hit shots. By halftime, the Scots had cut the deficit to 21-35.
The third quarter was all about the Scots as they elevated their offensive and defensive play and cut the Bucks lead to one, 44-45. The back and forth continued throughout the fourth quarter and culminated in McRae’s game-tying shot to force overtime.
Despite the loss, Justin’s team, after a stern talking to in the locker room, was much crisper on offense and defense than they have been the past few weeks. With the loss, the Scots move to 8-8 on the season and 0-2 in SEC play.
The Scots are back in action Friday, Jan. 20 at home against Lumberton. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.
Amber Hatten can be reached at 910-506-3170.
