Carver’s Mike McLean (0) takes a shot during a Jan. 29 game against Spring Hill at Scotland High School in Laurinburg.
File photo
LAUREL HILL — The fourth-seeded Carver Eagles hosted and defeated the No. 5 Spring Hill Spartans 47-39 in the first round of the Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference boys tournament on Wednesday.
The teams faced off less than two weeks removed from their rivalry game at Scotland High School on Jan. 29, which Carver won 48-18.
“We told the guys last week and a half coming in this would be a harder game,” Carver coach Michael Gilliland said. “It wasn’t going to be a 30-point game. Spring Hill played a great game. Coach (Dan) Hersey and coach Jeremy (Baker) did a great job with their team, getting them ready. And it was a good game, just like we thought it would be.”
Carver (6-3) went into the second quarter down 11-8, but an 18-point period helped the Eagles go into halftime leading 26-18. Spring Hill (4-5) outscored Carver 9-6 in the third, which helped cut its deficit to 32-27 at the end of the quarter, but the Spartans couldn’t overcome a 15-12 scoring difference in the fourth quarter that favored Carver.
Briley Lewis scored 20 points, and Mike McLean had 14 for Carver.
Kamden Prince scored all 11 of Spring Hill’s first-quarter points and led the team with 19 points.
Carver visits No. 1 East Hoke (7-1) in the semifinal round; the date and time are still being determined for the matchup.
“We’ve got a little bit of stuff we need to clean up before we go to East Hoke,” Gilliland said. “We beat them in the regular season, and if we’re playing our best ball, I think we can beat any of these teams.”
While the season ends for Spring Hill’s boys, the No. 6 Lady Spartans remain alive after a 19-13 upset win over No. 3 Rockingham (5-4) on Thursday in the opening round of the SEMSAC girls tournament; Spring Hill (5-4) plays at No. 2 Hamlet (6-2) in the second round on Monday at 4 p.m.