Vikings Pettaway burns Cougars

The Tarboro Vikings have exploded out of their mid-season slump and won three games in a row including beating SouthWest Edgecombe 66-40 Friday night in Tarboro.

Viking Markell Pettaway, who has been on fire as of late, knocked down five 3-pointers and led the Vikings scoring with 21 points. Pettaway was coming off another sensational game against Greene Central where he knocked down seven 3-pointers. Tarboro also beat Northern Nash during their short run.

The Vikings are tied for fourth place with North Pitt in the Eastern Plain Conference. Only four teams in the conference will go to the state playoffs. With three games left in regular season, the remainder of the games will be critical for the Vikings.

“We are still not where we need to be. We've got some work to do,” said Vikings Coach Lashaun Jenkins. “We want to get in on our own merits. We have some tough games left.”

If the Vikings can continue their hot shooting from the perimeter those games may not be as tough as Jenkins suspect. In the last two games the Vikings hit a combined 17 3-pointers. Pettaway led the big bombs by scoring 12 of the 17.

Against the Cougars the senior poured salt on the SouthWest’s wound by scoring the final three field goals which were 3-pointers.

“Markell has been playing inspired,” Jenkins said. “He refuses to let up. He plays hard every night and has set the standards for our team.”

Jeremy Watson added 13 points for the Vikings and William Ruffin 12.

Leading scorer for the Cougars (3-14 overall, 1-7 conference) was Anthony Coley 18 and Ja’Marco Cotton 16. Cotton struggled the beginning of the season but has came around in the last three games when the Cougars needed him most.

SouthWest continues to struggle on and off the court. Playing with only eight players the Vikings handed the Cougars their sixth consecutive loss in a row. The Cougars’ last victory came against conference foe Greene Central.

Wooten said disciplinary actions and academic ineligibility by half of his team has shortened his bench.

The lost was the third against the Vikings this season.



Lady Cougars 49,

Lady Vikings 46

Tarboro Viking Raven White played one of her best games of the season but it wasn’t enough to break the Vikings xx game losing streak.

The Cougars defeated the Vikings 46-49 in an exciting game that went down to the wire.

Jesscia Barnes led the Cougars scoring with 18 poitns. NyNeka Euwell added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

SouthWest, who trailed the majority of the game, defense turned the game around late in the third quarter. The Cougars capitalized on five Vikings’ turnovers and outscored Tarboro 9-2 to tie the game at 40-40 behind a jump shot by Quandera Braswell with 6:32 left in the game. The Vikings committed another turnover on their ensuing possession. Cougar Kayla Hinton turned that turnover into a jump shot that gave the Cougars their first lead since the beginning of the game. SouthWest went up by five points (45-40) and it appeared that the Vikings had lost their fight.

However with one more push Kahlil Perry scored back-to-back baskets and tied the game at 45-45 with 1:12 left in the game. The Vikings offense struggled the remainder of the game.

White scored 20 points including 15 in the first half. Perhaps White’s most spectacular shot of the game when she tossed up a shot beyond half court for a first quarter buzzer beater. But the second half was a totally different story. The Cougars played a box-in-one on the Vikings’ star and virtually prevented another great half.

“We had to do something,” said Cougar Coach Sandra Langley. “She was hurting us in the first half. I thought that we kept our composure at the end. But I have to give Tarboro credit. They played us tough tonight.”

The Vikings were playing again without two of their starters and a very inexperience bench. Jasmine Woodley, who is the team’s second leading scorer and Shanta Fields are out nursing sprained ankles.

With the Vikings' short bench White gave Tarboro the much needed punch that kept the game competitive.

“She couldn’t miss in the first half,” said Vikings Coach Jamie Willoughby. “We needed that type of game from her. I thought that we played a good first half. In the second half we made some youthful mistakes. We didn’t play as well as we could have played.”

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