Roundup: Scotland basketball teams split season openers against Purnell-Swett

LAURINBURG — Isaac Ferguson scored 17 points, Lamonte’ Cousar had 16 points, and the Fighting Scots basketball team cruised to a 69-39 season-opening victory against the Purnell-Swett Rams Friday night.

With the Rams already playing four games this season, it seemed as if the Scots were coming in at a disadvantage. Scots head coach Michael Malpass believes, however, that it may have been more favorable for his team.

“I think at the high school level, you know, if you play before thanksgiving, you play a game, then you’ve got a week break,” Malpass said. Then, you come back and, a lot of times, with schools that have football players, they’re playing with one team, then they play with another team. And, so our decision this year was let’s (not) put pressure on football and lets hope football goes a long way, and lets wait and have football guys, so that the season is one season. So, we’re together when we start, we’re together when we finish. And, so, I think for us, it’s been an advantage because we’re excited to play, whereas some of those teams are starting to grind. I think when you have depth, I think it’s even more for those guys, like we wanna kind of prove that when we’re on the floor, it’s a different story than last year.”

The Scots were able to get off to a brisk 14-6 start, thanks to an early six points by senior guard Nick McCall (12 points). That lead eventually grew to 18-7 by the end of the first quarter.

And, after a 22 point second quarter, the Scots led 40-16 at the halftime break.

The third quarter featured a combined 11 point run by Ferguson, Cousar, and Tashad Russell (six points) to open the frame, which led to a 55-19 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Ferguson and Cousar scored all but four of the Scots’ 14 points in the fourth quarter, helping lead the Scots to their third straight win in a season opener.

After the game, Malpass discussed his team’s overall performance and how he would grade them.

“To win is always the goal,” Malpass said. “I thought we did some things well in the front-court on defense, being disruptive. But, I thought our backside rotations in our 3-2 zones, (and) some of the things we were doing in our press scenarios were not sound. I thought we were kind of hoping that they would miss shots, instead of us walling up or sealing, or doing things to physically take that option completely off the table. So, you know, in some parts of it, I thought it was maybe a ‘B.’ I thought in other parts of it, it was probably a ‘C minus.’ Offensively, when you play a team that struggles to match up with size or with speed, we try to…just take help away and create flat scenarios, so it’s a little easier for them. I think one thing we’ve learned over a year-and-a-half now is, we’ve got to allow them to have the freedom in space to take advantage of some of the things that we’re able to do with our speed and our athletes.”

The Scots’ next game will be on Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. when they host the Fairmont Golden Tornadoes.

Malpass believes the match-up will be an early test for his team.

“Fairmont’s tough,” Malpass said. “They press, that’s their ‘MO.’ They’ve got two good inside guys, so that’s gonna be good for our inside guys to have to really play and be sound in how we defend, and how we end that defensive possession. So, we look forward to it. It’s a young season and we definitely, I think, have a chance this year to make some noise.”

Lady Scots fall in season opener against Purnell-Swett

Coming into their match-up against the Purnell-Swett Rams, the Lady Scots hadn’t won a season opener in basketball since the 2018-19 season. After Friday night’s season opener, that streak remained alive, as the Lady Scots fell 67-48.

With the Rams already having four games under their belt, Lady Scots head coach Roshein McClain knew his team would be at a disadvantage before the tip, but felt his team played better than he thought they would.

“We started off good, but, then, the inexperience kicked in a little bit,” McClain said. “I feel like we can play with them (Purnell-Swett), we just got to pay attention to detail. They (Purnell-Swett) have a lot of experience out there. They have four seniors that have played together, probably since middle school and AAU ball. I’m not disappointed; I know the expectations coming in. But, I’m also excited for what’s coming next.”

The Lady Scots started the game off in a 4-2 deficit that never grew closer. After the first quarter, the Lady Scots were down 14-8 and stagnant shooting the ball, failing to hit a three-pointer in the first half.

McClain discussed his team’s offensive struggles after the game.

“We’ve gotta make more shots from the outside,” McClain said. “That’s (something) I know we can improve on; we shoot all the time.”

Something that did impress McClain about his team was their rebounding against the Rams.

“We were better rebounding than I thought we were gonna be,” McClain said. “I’m pretty sure…Alicia (McClain) had a nice double-double tonight with rebounding.”

Roshein McClain was correct, as Alicia McClain finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while also recording eight blocks and six steals.

In the second quarter, the Lady Scots started to get better offensive production, doubling their first quarter points output, but couldn’t stop the Rams’ offensive firepower, going into halftime down 34-21 .

“One area that we are going to work on more and more is man-to-man,” Roshein McClain said. “I feel like if we could have played man-to-man with them (Purnell-Swett), it could have been a different story.”

In the third quarter, the Lady Scots’ hole started to dig deeper, as the Rams put up their largest lead of the game of 20 points with just over a minute left in the quarter.

But, in the fourth quarter, an offensive burst from Lady Scots guard Morgan Thompson (20 points, 10 rebounds) helped put them down 61-47.

Turnovers, however, snatched any opportunity the Lady Scots had at a comeback, as the Rams would close out the game on a 6-1 run.

“Even though we lost by (almost) 20, we had it at 12, 10 at one point,” Roshein McClain said. “It’s just one of the things that hurts me when we play a team like that. When you play a team like that, you cannot turn the ball over in crucial times when you’re trying to make a comeback. So, there’s room for improvement, room for a lot of improvement.”

Lady Scots guard Maddyson Hammonds, who is expected to be a crucial part of the offense this season, finished with zero points.

Roshein McClain knows how important it is for her to be effective offensively.

“She has to make shots to spread (us) out more,” Roshein McClain said. “And, that gives Alicia (McClain) and Morgan (Thompson) more opportunities to drive to the hole and do what they do.”

And, despite the loss, Roshein McClain feels his team will turn things around quickly, as he made a bold statement after the game.

“I think we’re gonna be fine,” Roshein McClain said. “I’m putting it in now; we’re gonna win 20 plus games.”

The Lady Scots will be back in action on Dec. 5, when they host the Fairmont Golden Tornadoes at 6 p.m.