GEORGETOWN — South Laurel had No. 2 Great Crossing on the ropes throughout Friday’s road battle but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch as the Warhawks survived with a 61-58 that extended their win streak to 16 games and their home court win streak to 37 games.
The Cardinals led 56-49 with close to five minutes remaining before Great Crossing closed the game with a 12-2 run.
Vince Dawson III led the Warhawks with 20 points and eight rebounds while Malachi Moreno hit all seven of his field goal attempts, finishing with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.. LJ Holman added 10 points and five assists while Gage Richardson scored seven points while finishing with three assists.
Jordan Mabe led South Laurel with 23 points while Colton Rawlings had 15 points and eight rebounds.
“Extremely proud of our guys tonight,” South Laurel coach Jeff Davis said. “We battled and fought hard but just came up short. Our bench was huge tonight and really played well.
“We just have to work on a few things and keeping grinding in a few areas,” he added. “I really like how we were focused and paid attention to detail.”
The first half could be best-described as a roller coaster with Great Crossing building a 9-7 edge with 3:10 remaining in the first quarter.
An old-fashioned 3-point play by Moreno combined with a layup at the buzzer allowed the Warhawks to take a 16-12 lead into the second quarter.
South Laurel came out red-hot to open the second quarter as two 3-pointers by Mabe and a 3-pointer by Garrison Brown gave the Cardinals a 20-19 lead with 6:10 remaining in the first half.
Davis’ squad finished the first half hitting 7-of-12 shot attempts from 3-point range to take a 34-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Mabe and Rawlings dominated in the first half, scoring 14 points, and 11 points, respectively.
A dunk by Moreno and a basket by Richardson tied the game at 34 apiece early in the third quarter but consecutive baskets by Kaiden McQueen helped South Laurel to regain a 38-34 edge with 4:44 remaining.
Another old-fashioned 3-point play by Moreno, cut the Cardinals’ lead to 38-37.
Moreno added another dunk at the 1:38 mark to tie the game at 44 apiece.
Howard followed with a 3-point to give South Laurel a 45-42 edge but Great Crossing came back down the court and tie the game at 45 apiece. Mabe’s basket late in the third quarter gave his team a 47-45 edge with eight minutes remaining.
The game continued to be a nail biter in the fourth quarter.
A 3-pointer by Mabe gave the Cardinals a 50-45 lead with seven minutes remaining. Another basket by Mabe pushed South Laurel’s lead to 54-47 with six minutes left.
The Cardinals held a 56-49 lead before the Warhawks began to rally.
Another Moreno dunk highlighted an 10-0 run that saw Great Crossing claim a 59-56 lead with :26.2 remaining in regulation.
Mabe added two free throws to cut the Cardinals’ deficit to 59-58 with :20.5 seconds left remaining.
Vince Dawson secured the win for Great Crossing by hitting two free throws with :03.9, giving his team the 61-58 victory.
