Pickle Winter Classic -- Raiders drop Saints into third-place boys' game

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 28, 2013 11:34 PM

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Southern Vance 70,

Southern Wayne 68

* MOUNT OLIVE -- Ty-Traveon Roberts converted a traditional three-point play with 25.7 seconds to go, and Southern Vance escaped Southern Wayne, 70-68, during the inaugural Southern Bank-Mount Olive Pickle Winter Classic on Friday evening.

The Saints held seven-point advantages on several occasions throughout the game, but could never pull away from the Raiders.

Roberts' one-handed dunk from the baseline gave Southern Vance its first lead, 61-59, since early in the opening quarter. The Saints' Maurice Butler knotted the game at 61-61 on an uncontested drive to the basket, but the Vikings' Shawn Henderson answered with a 3-pointer seconds later.

Darius Kearney extended Southern Vance's lead to 66-61 on a layup off of Qualik Shearin's assist. Butler drained two free throws and added an old-fashioned three-point play, which knotted the contest at 66-66 with 56.8 seconds to go.

Roberts followed with a three-point play. The Saints' Jamon Wade drained two free throws and Kearney hit the back end of a two-shot foul to keep the Raiders in front, 70-68, with 13 seconds to go.

Southern Wayne misfired on its attempt to send the game into overtime, and endured its fifth loss of the season in 11 outings.

"We had our transition offense ready to go," Saints head coach Dwight Smith. "We said if we don't get it (the basket) initially, we're going to pull it back and go at five (seconds on the clock). It was supposed to have been a clear-out to the basket.

"We got lackadaisical and allowed them to get back into the game. We should have continued with our pressure and if we had, we would have won this game."

Roberts emerged one of five Raiders in double figures with 12 points. Kearney and Shearin scored 15 points apiece. Johnny Hawkins and Shawn Henderson each tallied 10.

Butler led the Saints with 22 points. Jaylen Roberts recorded 16 points and eight rebounds before fouling out.