Leesville Road boys basketball stops red-hot Wake Forest; girls complete sweep

Leesville Road completed a home sweep of visiting Wake Forest on Friday night.

Boys

After coming off a huge 62-61 win at Heritage on Tuesday, the Wake Forest boys’ basketball team was unable to push its win streak to five, as they fell to conference foe Leesville Road 65-49.

A third-quarter rally led by Demetrius Everett and Isaiah Jones got the Cougars within two points, but a 3-pointer from Leesville’s D.J. Horne as time expired killed any momentum that Wake Forest had going into the final period.

“They hit the 3 at the end of the third to put them up five, then they come out and score five more to push it back to 10 and that really took the wind out of our sails,” Wake Forest coach Todd Seymour said. “If we would have gotten a stop at the end of the third and been down two going into the fourth, then that would have been a little bit better.”

After being down by 15 at the half, Wake Forest (7-7, 2-3) came out with some new energy. Everett and Jones, both juniors, combined for 20 points in the third period. Jones scored all eight of his points during the run, while Everett knocked down three 3-pointers on his way to 12 third quarter points. He finished with a team-high 17 points.

Leesville’s Jonathan Mebane led the game with 20 points, as he hit two 3-pointers and made a living at the free throw line. Teammates Alex Hunter and Ben Zemonek added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

“I’m happy to have a win in the Cap-8,” head coach Russ Frazier said. “We came out flat in the third quarter. We got hit in the mouth and knocked up against the ropes but we answered.”

The Pride (8-6, 4-1) focused in on defense and held the Cougars to just seven points in the final period.

“I told them to just do what we do. Execute our stuff, play with pace, play with heart, and play with passion,” Frazier added. “We’re getting better every day and just trying to stay on top of things.”

“When we come back on Monday, we have exams. We’ve got to take care of those and then get right back to work.”

Girls

The girls’ basketball matchup between Wake Forest and Leesville on Friday night was a tough one for Pride head coach Ben Daniels. Although his team came away with a convincing 57-37 victory, Daniels had a hard time coaching against his former team.

“This was a very emotional game for me because for the last two years I coached those girls at Wake Forest,” Daniels said. “I’m happy that we executed our game plan and won today, but I never find joy in watching girls that I love and respect not be able to win a game.”

Lauren McNamara-Clement was a force on both sides of the ball for the Lady Pride (12-2, 4-1). The junior center scored 18 points to go along with seven blocks on the night.

“She’s just one of those players that’s special and that’s why she’s having the success that she’s having,” Daniels added.

Ashley Gill was second in scoring for Leesville (nine), while Allie Moss, Shea Plochharczyk, and Kelly Funderburk chipped in seven points each.

The visiting Cougars were within reach coming out of halftime, but Leesville’s turned to a full court press in the third quarter and forced Wake Forest to make some bad decisions.

“It’s the fundamentals of the game that we just did not execute,” head coach Patrick Surles stated. “I kept telling them to flash to the middle, someone run the wings, and we’ll be fine. I know we’re young but at that time I need my upperclassmen to step up, want the ball, and go help us fight through that.”

Freshman Presley Ayers was the high scorer for Wake Forest (5-9, 1-4), scoring 10 of her 12 points in the second half. Sophomore Jada Miller added 9.

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Leesville Road boys basketball stops red-hot Wake Forest; girls complete sweep."