Rivals Hoggard and New Hanover advance to finals of MEC Boys Basketball Tournament

The semifinals of the Mideastern Conference Boys Basketball Tournament were held at Brunswick Community College on Wednesday.

***Click here to view a gallery of 56 photos from both games***

No. 2 Hoggard 59, No. 3 Laney 58 (OT)

Senior point guard Cameron Blanks drilled a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in the extra session to help the Vikings pick up their third victory of the season over the Buccaneers and advance to the finals for the second year in a row and 14th time since 2000.

“I am a very unselfish player and I try to look for other people, but when it comes down to the stretch and I can’t find anybody I know I have the ability to take it in my own hands and hit some big shots,” said Blanks, who scored all seven of his points in the second half. “I told Brady (Rankin) I was going to set him a screen and they were going to double him, so he just had to hit me backside.”

Hoggard (21-5) now gets a third shot at New Hanover in the championship game Friday night at 7:30. The Wildcats won both regular season matchups.

It will be the sixth time in the past 10 seasons the rivals will meet in the tournament final. The Vikings won in 2016 (60-57), and 2011 (56-53) and the Wildcats won in 2013 (48-47), 2012 (74-43) and 2010 (49-42). 

In Wednesday’s game, neither team could create much separation in regulation as the largest lead was a 35-28 advantage for Laney a minute into the second half.

Hoggard (21-5) outscored their county rival 12-6 in the third quarter to take a 40-39 lead into the fourth. There were three ties and four lead changes over the final eight minutes.

A pair of free throws from Sabastian Haidera with 1:41 remaining in the fourth quarter put the Vikings up 53-51. They got three straight stops and a free throw from Jackson Massey to increase the lead to three points with 24.1 seconds to play.

The Vikings had a foul to give at the end of regulation, but elected not to use it and it cost them, as Laney (16-8) senior guard Reece Edwards hit a 3-pointer with nine seconds on the clock to send the game to overtime.

The Buccaneers led 58-56 in OT following a pull-up jumper from Jahi Flowers with 2:04 to go, but Edwards missed the front end of a pair 1-and-1s and Blanks canned the game-winning 3-pointer. 

A desperation 3-pointer from Flowers over the outstretched arms of Rankin and Jacob Fisher hit the front of the rim.

“We went small and were switching a lot of stuff,” Hoggard coach Brett Queen said. “That’s a lot harder possession to guard when you’re only up one because you have to guard everything. I was really frustrated at the end of regulation because the only thing we don’t want to give up is a 3 and we gave that up.

“On the last possession, Jacob did a fantastic job of staying on the floor on the shot fake. You could easily commit a foul in that situation, so a lot of discipline right there from a sophomore.”

Rankin led all scorers with 17 points and Haidera added 11 in the victory. Hoggard also got a total of 24 points from its frontcourt of Jackson Massey (nine), Luke Lamporte (eight) and Kris Gibbs (seven).

Laney was led by senior forward Marc McLaurin, who had 15 points. Edwards and Flowers each chipped in 12.

No. 1 New Hanover 83, No. 4 West Brunswick 68

The Wildcats had their best offensive game of the season, shooting 63 percent (30 of 48) from the field, 55 percent from 3-point range (6 of 11) and 94 percent (17 of 18) from the free throw line to advance to Friday’s championship game. 

Four players reached double figures, including 19 a piece from Mikai Stanley and Dee Barnett. Maleec Myers, who made his return after battling the flu for the past week, and James Jones Jr. each added 14 for New Hanover (20-5), which is back in the finals after falling in the semifinals a season ago.

“James scared us to death on Saturday because he came into practice and sat down on the stage and said he wasn’t feeling well,” New Hanover coach Kirk Angel said. “He missed Monday’s game against North Brunswick and so did Maleec, but they both played really well tonight.”

The Wildcats will be playing in their 15th championship game since 2003. The only years they didn’t make it were 2019, 2015 and 2009. 

An entertaining opening half, which saw both teams shoot better than 45 percent from the field, ended with New Hanover ahead 37-36. They were able to extend it to double digits on a 3-pointer from Jones Jr. with 48 seconds left in the third quarter. 

The advantage grew to as much as 12 on two occasions before West Brunswick (17-9) mounted a charge thanks to four straight possessions with three-point plays. A layup plus the foul from Cal Collins got the Trojans to within 73-68 with 2:20 to play, but they failed to score on their final seven possessions of the contest.

North Florida signee Jadyn Parker scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the opening half. Collins added 16 in the loss.

“We limited Jadyn in the second half and then they started making outside shots, but I’d rather live with that because they aren’t going to make all of them,” Angel said. “We got some rebounds when needed them and we found a way down the stretch.”