TABOR CITY — The St. Pauls boys basketball team has been consistently inconsistent this season.
On Thursday night, Bulldogs coach Corey Thompson saw that trend continue against Whiteville.
The Bulldogs came out slow, rallied to put themselves in a position to win, but fell short in a 47-44 loss in the semifinals of the Three Rivers Conference tournament.
“I thought the first half kind of caught up with us,” Thompson said. “That’s been the knack for us the whole year. We’ll struggle the first half, then we’ll respond and play better. We just have to learn how to put two halves together.”
The Wolfpack (17-5) jumped out to a 16-7 lead after the first quarter, leaving the Bulldogs (18-7) in catch-up mode for a majority of the night. Cole Humphrey led the St. Pauls rally with a team-best 16 points, rolling in a floater to give his team a one-point advantage with 43 seconds left.
But Whiteville’s Tyrell Kirk willed the Wolfpack down the stretch, scoring nine of his game-high 17 points in the final period, including the go-ahead 3-pointer to secure Whiteville a spot in Friday night’s TRC title game against Fairmont.
“I thought that we came out much better in the second half,” Thompson said. “We attacked the paint, instead of settling for 3s. In the first half we kind of struggled offensively. That’s on me as a coach. We have to get them prepared for the game and I told them I’d take responsibility for the loss.”
St. Pauls was also hampered by a nearly six-minute scoring drought to start the fourth quarter and a 7-for-17 effort from the free-throw line. Ted McNeill made a layup at the 2:02 mark to break the ice, igniting a 7-0 spurt for the Bulldogs that was capped by Humphrey’s floater, giving St. Pauls a 43-42 advantage with 43 seconds left to play.
But like he did throughout the fourth quarter, Kirk answered with a basket of his own to give Whiteville a two-point advantage with 23 seconds left. McNeill made 1-of-2 free throws to trim the deficit back to one point, but Kirk iced the game with a pair of free throws and Humphrey’s desperation heave from 25-feet caromed off the backboard as time expired.
Demetrius Brown scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half, helping the Wolfpack carry a 26-20 advantage into the locker room.
With its regular season in the rear-view mirror, St. Pauls now turns its attention to the NCHSAA 2A state playoffs. With an 18-7 mark in the regular season, the Bulldogs are in play for their first home playoff game since 2013.
“I told (the guys) because of their hard work, they should be rewarded with a home playoff game,” Thompson said. “I don’t know that it’s been done here in awhile. We just have to get focused and learn to finish games.”
Red Devils cruise into TRC finals
The Red Springs girls basketball team closed the first half strong, and came out firing in the second to claim a 67-43 win over West Columbus on Thursday.
Taya Jones scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Red Devils (19-5), who used a 23-10 second quarter and 17-8 third quarter to spark a 40-18 run against the Vikings (8-16).
Sha’nia Leach scored 13 points for Red Springs, with Taylynn Atkinson adding nine points and eight rebounds.
The Red Devils will face East Columbus on Friday night in the Three Rivers Conference tournament championship.
