The Bucks remain unbeated in the Sandhills Athletic Conference.
RAEFORD — Hoke County coach Quame Patterson knew ahead of Friday’s match that Pinecrest carried a roster full of deep-ball threats, and he made his strategy accordingly.
“They’ve (Pinecrest) got three or four pure shooters,” Patterson said. “I feel like we can beat anybody in a two-point war. If we could make more 3s than them, if we could limit them to half the 3s they normally make, then I knew we’d have a chance. The game plan worked out perfectly.”
The Bucks held the Patriots to just three 3-point goals and came up with some timely ones of their own en route to a 54-44 win.
Hoke was good on eight shots from behind the arc, five off the hand of guard Dakari Johnson.
Johnson led all scorers with 19 points, including a trio of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter that doused a Pinecrest run and stretched the Bucks’ lead to double digits.
Johnson said the offensive efforts started on the other end of the floor, with the Bucks’ defense hustling to set up on defense.
“We’ve got to take a lot of charges, because they do a lot of backdoor cuts, so we’ve got to get in good defensive positions,” Johnson said. “And then, we’ve got to run the floor.”
The Bucks drew five charges on the night. In what Patterson called “a total team effort,” the Bucks were clicking early and held a 27-20 lead at halftime.
The Patriots came roaring back to start the second half, opening the third quarter on a 9-0 run that gave them a 29-27 lead in less than three minutes.
Point guard Jayson Jones helped ignite the spurt, scoring nine of his team-high 13 points in the third quarter.
Coach Ben Snyder said the change was the result of better execution rather than any specific adjustments.
“We were a little bit sharper offensively,” Snyder said of the run. “I thought our kids battled all night.”
The Bucks regained the lead, but not by much, and the teams traded baskets for much of the third and the start of the fourth.
With just under six minutes left in the game, Johnson, left unattended on the right wing, hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers, to give the Bucks a 48-35 lead that would withstand Pinecrest’s closing efforts.
“That was the momentum change,” Snyder said of Johnson’s 3s. “We came off of seven days off because of the snow and then played the two best teams in the conference. We knew it was going to be a grind. We were hoping to find a way to win ugly.”
The Patriots lost a one-point thriller to Scotland on Thursday. Friday’s game, played in packed Hoke gym, was a key contest in the Sandhills Athletic 4-A Conference.
With the win, the Bucks (14-1, 6-0) claim sole possession of the top spot in the SAC 8 standings and boasts wins over Scotland, which has one league loss, and Pinecrest (12-3, 4-2), which sits in third place.
“This puts us in the driver’s seat in the conference,” Patterson said. “Scotland has one loss, and now Pinecrest has two losses. Every team is a challenge, but I think we’re in a good position now. Everyone else has pressure on them to win out their games and put on the scoreboard watch every night to see if we’ve won our game.”
Staff writer Jaclyn Shambaugh can be reached at jshambaugh@fayobserver.com or 609-0651.
HOKE COUNTY 54, PINECREST 44
PINECREST;11;9;15;9;—;44
HOKE COUNTY;16;11;10;17;—;54
PINECREST — M. Coe 2, Bailey 6, Gillespie 1, Tyrell Allmond 12, Jayson Jones 13, Lyons 2, Haskall 2, C. Coe 2, Williamson 4
HOKE COUNTY — Ray 8, Jaquante Harris 10, Dakari Johnson 19, Pegues 3, Shaw 2, J. Love 2, S. Love 8
Fouled out: none
3-point goals: P — Bailey 2, Jones. HC — Harris 2, Johnson 5, S. Love
Records: Pinecrest 12-3, 4-2. Hoke County 14-1, 6-0