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Long Co. Tar Heels take a victory
Rec1
Aikeem Ellington nails 2 of his 7 points against the Lakers. - photo by Photo by Mike Riddle

The Long County mite basketball teams traveled to Jesup Friday afternoon to take on the Wayne County teams, and one of the teams pulled out a win, while the other came up just short.

The Long County Tar Heels beat the Wayne County Suns, 26-24. Trey Stapleton and Jared Martin both put up 3-point shots, with Brandon Scott, Matt Strickland, and Jamel Sloan also adding buckets.

The Suns were down at the half, by 10, but fought back to tie the game up. With good defense by Alex Carter and Parker Kasperian the Tar Heels held on for the win.

"It was a good game, real tight at the end. The Suns played hard and came back, and all the boys played well", said Tar Heels coach Chris Carter.

In the early game on Friday, the Long County Sharks took on the Wayne County Lakers.

The Sharks’ Nickolaus Bryant and Hunter Bennet just missed shots in the first period, but Aikeem Ellington’s nailed a lay-up to give the Long team the early lead 2-0.

In the second period, Ellington added another basket, but the Lakers managed to tie the game, and it looked like it was going to be even at the half. But with two seconds on the clock, Holden Riddle sank a goal as the buzzer sounded, giving the Sharks a 6-4 lead at the break.

In the third period, it was a seesaw battle between as home team put up 7 more points, and the Sharks’ Ellington adding three more, making the score Lakers 11 and Sharks 9 going into the final quarter.

In the fourth period, the Sharks’ Temani White, Savon Brunson, and Erin Ginder put up a gallant defensive effort, but by the end of the game, the bigger and more experienced Lakers had pulled out the win 19-9.

Both coaches were pleased with the efforts of all the 9- and 10-year old players.

 

On Jan. 9 the Long County Sharks also played in Jesup, taking on the Wayne County Hawks.

Though the boys from Long County fought hard and never quit, it was clear that the more experienced team was from Jesup, as the Hawks beat the Sharks 29-0.

The Hawks jumped out to a big lead early and after the first quarter they were up 9-0.

But in the second period, with outstanding defensive play by Hunter Bennett, Savon Brunson, and Temani White the Sharks held the stronger team to four points, meaning that the Long County team was down 13-0 at the half.

In the third period, the Sharks were aggressive on the boards with big rebounds by Holden Riddle and Nickolaus Bryant, but still were unable to score.

The Hawks pulled away in the fourth period, going on to win the game 29-0 in a shut-out, but the offensive effort was their all night and shots were just missed by inches by Akeem Ellington and Erin Ginder.

The Long County fans that followed the nine and ten year old team over to Jesup all were disappointed in the loss, but were more impressed and proud of the effort put forth by the Ludowici team.

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