DEEP RUN — Trailing by three after three quarters, South Lenoir boys basketball coach Jeremy Barnett challenged his players to give him all they had in the final 8 minutes.
The Blue Devils responded, and in a big way.
A pair of double-doubles from Ishmael Baldwin and Jaquan Wooten, plus some defensive intensity down the stretch allowed South Lenoir to rally past Croatan, 53-42, on Friday to remain in first place in the East Central 2A Conference race.
Baldwin scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Wooten added 13 points and 16 rebounds as the Blue Devils outscored the Cougars 26-12 in the final period.
“They knew they had to pick it up,” Barnett said of his players. “I challenged them at halftime, and we had spurts in the third quarter where we’d get (the lead down) to two or three (points) then we’d stop playing defense.
“I told them that if they don’t play defense for 8 minutes then we’re going to be looking at 5-1 and it picked them up.”
Dion Jones scored 12 points and had five rebounds, and helped spark a 10-0 run that saw the Blue Devils go from three down to seven up in a matter of minutes.
South Lenoir’s defense forced Croatan, led by JacQues Chambers’ 13 points and nine rebounds, to miss its first seven shots of the fourth quarter. It hit just 4 of 19 in the period.
Conversely, the Blue Devils (10-4, 6-0) hit 6 of 11 in the period and also connected on 13 of 16 from the foul line.
“It’s been the same story all year — rebounding, we couldn’t hit layups. We just shot poorly,” said Croatan coach Kirk McDougle, whose team was outrebounded 47-33.
“We couldn’t hit the side of a barn tonight.”
South Lenoir scored the game’s first points, then fell behind as the Cougars (12-3, 3-3) went on a 7-0 run. The Blue Devils tied it at 15-15 in the second quarter, then played catch-up until they took their first lead since 2-0 when Jones sank a pair of free throws with 6:08 to play.
From there South Lenoir’s lead grew, to as much as 12 at 44-32 before Croatan used another 7-0 run to cut it to six at 45-39. But a monster dunk by Baldwin over two Cougars defenders put the Blue Devils back up by eight and they cruised from there.
“These are big games. We’ve got to keep winning, keep on going with the stuff that we’ve been practicing,” Jones said.
“We’ve got to keep working hard and keep going hard at practice. Practice makes perfect.”
The win — South Lenoir’s seventh in a row — sets up another big league showdown Tuesday night when second-place Clinton (11-3, 5-1), which knocked off Jacksonville Northside 67-59, comes to Deep Run.
While the Blue Devils may have sputtered during their non-conference schedule — they went 4-4 — they’ve been playing at a high level in the games that actually matter.
It’s something Barnett felt was going to happen all alone.
“No matter how bad it looks, they always feel like they have a chance, I always feel like they have a chance,” Barnett said. “At South Lenoir, it’s not going to be pretty. We’re going to have to win games ugly, and that’s what we did tonight.
“We fought in the fourth quarter. We had to grit our teeth and little bit and buckle down, and we did just enough of what we needed to do to get the win.”
GIRLS BASKETBALL
SOUTH LENOIR 42, CROATAN 33: At South Lenoir, the Blue Devils had three in double figures as they downed the Cougars and now sit in a four-way tie for first.
Heather West scored 11 points, had six assists and added six steals, Demeyia Adams had 10 points and 11 rebounds and Marquia Suddeth scored 10 points and grabbed 16 boards for a Blue Devils team that now shares first place with Clinton, East Duplin and Jacksonville Northside.
Northside knocked off Clinton 48-43 in overtime while East Duplin defeated Swansboro.
Croatan (3-10, 1-5) was led by Ryan Lancaster’s eight points. South Lenoir (11-3, 5-1) hosts the Dark Horses on Tuesday.
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.
BOYS
Croatan 11 9 10 12—42
South Lenoir 7 8 12 26—53
COUGARS (12-3, 3-3) — JacQues Chambers 13, Austin Sanders 12, Cranmer 7, Smith 5, Judon 3, Deming 2, Touchton.
BLUE DEVILS (10-4, 6-0) — Ishmael Baldwin 16, Jaquan Wooten 13, Dion Jones 12, Midgette 7, Whaley 3, Turner 2, Janning, Garner, Cooper, Davis, Smith.
GIRLS
Croatan 8 6 7 11—33
South Lenoir 10 8 11 13—42
COUGARS (3-10, 1-5) — Lancaster 8, Layko 6, Taylor 5, Perry 5, Heverly 4, Raper 3, Johnston 1, Raynor, Fair, Fitzgerald.
BLUE DEVILS (11-3, 5-1) — Heather West 11, Demeyia Adams 10, Marquia Suddeth 10, Jones 7, Meready 3, Pelletier, Ha. West, Franklin, Combs.