TARBORO — The Tarboro Vikings played right with the Farmville Central Jaguars Tuesday on senior night in Tarboro, but couldn't put a complete game together and the Jaguars pulled away in the fourth quarter. They defeated the Vikings 61-39.

"We came out strong and played good ball until the end of the third quarter," Tarboro head coach Craig Savage said. "Then Farmville Central made a run and we couldn't recover."

The Jaguars jumped out to an early 6-2 lead behind some tough inside play by their big man Keshon Williams. He grabbed two offensive rebounds in two straight possessions and scored on put backs, because no Viking boxed him out. Bryson Bryant hit two straight lay ups and Tarboro  trailed 8-6 with 3:24 left in the quarter. Chris Epps hit a three pointer with 1:30 left in the quarter and Tarboro trailed 12-9 after one quarter of play.

Both teams came out in the second quarter looking to take the momentum, but it didn't happen. They traded baskets throughout most of the quarter. Williams continued to show his presence inside and scored six points in the quarter and they all came on offensive rebounds. Epps and Larry Jones both hit a three pointer in the quarter and the Vikings were down 25-19 at halftime.

Tarboro's down fall in the first half was their shooting decisions. They took 17 three point attempts and made three.

"I have told the guys that the threes are not falling so we need to go inside to the big guys," Savage said. "They just continue to jack up the threes like it is nothing and I don't understand it and it hurt us bad. Shot selection was horrible."

The Vikings came out in the third quarter and continued to shoot the long range shot. With 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Tarboro put together an 8-0 run and tied the game 27-27 with 4:48 left to play in the quarter. Farmville Central answered right back with a 6-2 run of their own and force Savage to take a timeout with 1:32 left in the quarter. The Jaguars put a 6-0 run together to close out the quarter and led 40-32 behind the continued presence inside of Williams. He scored all six points in that run.

Tarboro struggled in the fourth quarter scoring only seven points and Farmville Central caught fire from the floor. Jaguars guard Tommy Williams scored eight of his 11 points in the quarter. Tarboro continued their long range shooting, but nothing would fall for them. They attempted 35 threes in the game and made only five.

"When we get down like that we get the attitude that the game is over," Savage said. "We are the type of team once we are down we just can't find a way to dig out of the hole. They need to realize the game isn't over and just continue to work hard."

Farmville Central's inside game beat Tarboro most of the night and Williams finished with 23 points and had 16 rebounds, but 10 of them were on the offensive end.

"We are not boxing out like we should," Savage said. "They had one guy to beat us inside tonight and it is because we didn't box out like we should have. We have to get a body on somebody when the shot goes up plain and simple."

Tarboro forced the Jaguars to turn the ball over 19 times, but only scored eight points off of the turnovers.

"We force turnovers and then we made bad decisions on fast breaks," Savage said. "When you force a turnover you have to capitalize and score. We just are not doing that."

Najee Smith led the Vikings in scoring with 10, while Epps chipped in nine. Epps grabbed 10 rebounds and had four blocked shots.



Lady Jaguars 57  

Lady Vikings 43



The Tarboro Lady Vikings had two things going against them Tuesday when they matched up against Eastern Plains Conference rival the Farmville Central Lady Jaguars. Turnovers and the Lady Jaguars point guard Aushzanique Pittman. She scored 20 points for the Lady Jaguars and dished out nine assist.

Tarboro turned the ball over 28 times in a losing effort and were defeated 57-43. A win would have helped the Lady Vikings chances of locking up fourth place in the conference and possibly a spot in the state playoffs.

"I thought we played extremely rushed at times and didn't make good decisions," Lady Viking head coach Jamie Willoughby said. "That created easy opportunities for them to score."

Farmville Central jumped out to an early 8-0 lead after Pittman hit two lay ups off of Tarboro turnovers before Tarboro would score. Lady Viking Nyasha Savage scored on a four foot jumper inside the paint with 5:08 left in the first quarter. Imani Dye hit the next two baskets for Tarboro and they trailed 8-6 with 3:58 left in the quarter. The Lady Vikings turned the ball over seven times in the quarter and trailed 13-6.

In the second quarter Pittman continued to be a thorn in the Lady Vikings side. She had three steals in the first two minutes of the quarter and turned them into points. She made a layup and had two assist feeding Shakila Forbes down low for two baskets. Savage made a free throw and Dye made a layup after getting her own rebound off of a missed shot and with 3:20 left before halftime Tarboro trailed 20-11. The Lady Vikings forced a turnover and Savage was fouled on a layup attempt. She hit both free throws and Tarboro was down 20-13. The Lady Vikings closed out the half on a 5-4 run and trailed 24-18 at the half.

"We were lucky to be down only six points at halftime with the number of turnovers that we had," Willoughby said. "They missed a lot of lay ups and that keep us in the game during the first half."

The Lady Vikings came out in the third quarter looking to change the momentum, Farmville Central made sure that wasn't going to happen. Destiny Foskey and Pittman both made baskets after Savage scored on a layup for Tarboro. With 4:38 left in the quarter, Savage hit another basket and Tarboro trailed 30-22. Pittman scored on the next two possessions and put the Lady Jaguars up 34-22. With 1:40 left in the quarter Lisa Jones made a jumper and Quadashea Ruffin hit a jumper with 10 second left in the quarter and Tarboro trailed 39-28 after three quarters.

"In the second half we didn't hit shots we needed to hit and they did," Willoughby said. "We still didn't execute in the second half like I thought we should have."

In the fourth quarter the Lady Jaguars put the game away when they went on an 8-0 run that was capped off by two free throws from Pittman at the 1:14 mark after Tarboro went cold from the field and didn't score a basket in over a three minute span.

"We hit a scoring drought in the fourth quarter," Willoughby said. "We just couldn't make a shot and if we would have scored then we would have been in the game."

Savage led the Lady Vikings with 17 points, while Dye chipped in nine. Dye also grabbed nine rebounds.

Tarboro needs a big win Friday when they travel to Beddingfield to play the Lady Bruins, because everything is on the line Friday. Whoever wins that match up clinches fourth place in the conference and will possibly get an automatic qualifying spot in the playoffs. The other team’s season will be over, unless they can win the conference tournament.