ROCKY POINT — Purnell Swett boys basketball coach Jeremy Sampson delivered a clear message to his team after his team’s 57-46 loss to South Brunswick in the Flight 22 MLK Jam hosted at Heide Trask High School on Monday.
“I told the guys, ‘We’ve got who we’ve got now,” Sampson said. “We still should be able to get the job done with who we’ve got.”
With Robeson County Shootout MVP and the team’s best inside scorer Xavier Jones still serving a suspension, the Rams failed to look the form they had a month ago in winning the Shootout title. Five players scored for the Rams (8-8) in the loss in a game where offensive cold streaks hit the team. Seniors Rufus Harris and Darriante Parker were the only players from Purnell Swett to make a field goal as they were the main offensive sources in the game.
Parker scored a team-high 20 points and Harris added 19 points.
“Early on, we had guys that could score 15 any night. It’s tough when you lose 19 points a game (in Jones),” Sampson said. “Somebody has got to step up. We will find that person.”
Sampson also hinted to the free-throw line woes that hampered his team against the Cougars (8-8). The 11-point difference in the final score was lost at the foul line as the Rams went 13-for-24.
Quiet spells from the Purnell Swett offense came at the beginning and the end of the contest as South Brunswick opened the game on a 7-0 run that bled into a 12-4 lead midway through the period. Leading the attack for South Brunswick was 24 points from senior forward Jace McKenney, who will play for UNCP next season.
After McKenney directed the offense in the early goings, while also scoring six points of his own in the first quarter, Purnell Swett drew closer in the second stanza with its 3-2 zone that made McKenney a point of emphasis.
“We neutralized him there for a little bit by sending like three guys at him,” Sampson said. “He’s so strong and physical. He’s very tough to guard.”
The zone allowed the Rams to force turnovers, and create offense on the other end as a Harris 3-pointer with 4:03 left in the first half gave them their first lead of the contest. Both teams traded the lead over the final four minutes, but a 5-0 run from South Brunswick, all courtesy of McKenney, gave the Cougars a 26-22 halftime lead.
The margin remained constant for much of the second half, outside of the Cougars stretching it to 10 points late in the third quarter. The Rams posted their final comeback in the fourth.
Harris and Parker accounted for 10 of the Rams’ 14 points and a 3-pointer with 3:21 left from Harris cut the lead to 48-45. From there, Purnell Swett couldn’t get a shot to fall from the floor or the free throw line, scoring one point the remainder of the game, while McKenney and Co. closed out, going 15-for-19 at the charity stripe in the final period.
Purnell Swett faces a quick turnaround as it hosts Hoke on Tuesday.
