LUMBERTON — Both of the championship games for the Robeson County middle school basketball championships went down to the wire with the Lumberton Junior High boys team and the Pembroke Middle girls grabbing their respective titles.
In the boys game, Lumberton topped Rowland Middle 53-50. Lumberton had to hold off a 19-point fourth-quarter blitz from Rowland to top the defending champs.
Leading scorers for Lumberton were Tazarie Butler with 19 points and Charlie Miller and Jadarion Chatman with nine points. Rowland was led in scoring by Syn’cere Southern with 21 points and Matthew Jones with 20.
Pembroke handed St. Pauls Middle its first loss of the season with a 60-54 win in overtime.
Pembroke dug itself out of a 16-6 hole after the first quarter to tie the game at 49-all at the end of regulation thanks to a late 3-pointer from Destiny Locklear. Locklear finished with 17 points. Scoring from Pembroke also came from Jada Coward with 13 points and Sekiya Hunt with 12.
St. Pauls’ Tanjaneeka Eichelberger led all scorers with 32 points and Savanna Lowery added 11 points.
Pembroke Middle School girls handed St. Pauls its first loss of the season in a 60-54 overtime win.
Lumberton Jr. High topped defending champion Rowland to claim the county championship, 53-50.
