South Johnston girls fall, Trojan boys rout Triton in rivalry matchup
2 min read
The South Johnston basketball squads are on opposite ends of the spectrum to start this season.
While the girls struggled to a third straight defeat to begin 2021, the boys are off to a flying start. The Trojans split their two games against archrival Triton Friday in Four Oaks with the girls falling, 39-21 and the boys dominant in a 72-49 victory.
Things seemed promising for the South Johnston girls early, only trailing the Hawks by one at the end of the first quarter. However, a 20-5 outburst in the second broke the game open and the home team couldn’t recover.
In the boys game, things were also evenly played throughout the first half, but senior Dylan Bates had other ideas. The Trojans guard went off for 20 of his game high 26 points in the first 16 minutes of play.
South Johnston would lead, 37-27 at the half and the Hawks ran out of gas in the final two quarters. Triton was playing their first game of the season Friday and practiced for the first time all year the day before.
“We’re off to a good start and we beat a great team tonight,” Trojans head coach Brody Massengill said. “They’ll be a different team the next time we see them and they’re well coached. Our next focus is to grind through conference play against a lot of teams who’ve really improved.”
Senior forward Jeremiah McLean had 14 points along with several great defensive plays. South Johnston begins Greater Neuse 3-A conference play when they travel to Clayton Wednesday.