Triton took a varsity basketball sweep over visiting All American 3-A/4-A Conference and Harnett County rival Harnett Central to end the first half of the league schedule Tuesday night.

A dominant third quarter powered Triton to a 61-43 win over Harnett Central in the girls game.

“I lit a fire under them (at halftime),” said Triton girls coach Richard Rozier. “I think we took Harnett Central for granted. I think rivalry energy is something you can’t mimic. Rivalry games, you just can’t mimic the pace, the energy, the emotion. It was awesome to come out in the second half and play better. It was definitely a relief.”

Sophomore A’Shari Watlington had 17 points and six assists, freshman JaNiah Smith had 13 points and five steals and senior Tristan Ennis had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead the Hawks (9-2, 3-2 AAC).

Abby Hood had seven points, six assists and five steals. Jakiya Leach had six points and seven rebounds. Unique Cooke had four points and 13 rebounds. Aubree Bass had two points. Mahogany McKoy and Chyna Massey had five blocks apiece.

Senior Shay Ward paced the Trojans (1-10, 1-6) with 23 points.

Victoria Langdon and JoNese Monroe had five points apiece. Sondra Berry and Leah Greer had four points apiece. Katrina Ledbetter had two points.

After the teams tied 13-13 in the first quarter and 10-10 in the second, Triton went on a 24-5 run through the third quarter to take a commanding lead.

Harnett Central outscored Triton 15-14 in the fourth quarter.

Triton boys win defensive battle

In the boys game, Triton edged Harnett Central 43-36 in a defensive battle.

“Give credit to coach (Will) Gage and Harnett Central,” said Triton boys coach T.J. Morrison. “They had a good game plan, they executed, they kept the game at the pace they wanted and they battled and played hard. We were fortunate enough to persevere. Defensively to give up 36 points, 20 in the first half and 16 in the second half, that’s the kind of effort we want defensively. Our goal is 10 and under a quarter. If you do that, you can win a lot of games.”

Harnett Central boys coach Will Gage said the Trojans competed well, but had some costly lapses.

“The times that we play defense, we do OK,” Gage said. “We did, but we had lapses where we didn’t play very well defensively and didn’t make shots. But we competed and we didn’t back down and we were aggressive. I don’t fault them for their effort. I would have loved for a couple more shots to fall for us.”

Junior Nate McKoy had a double-double, with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman Romello Pegues had 10 points and five rebounds to lead the Hawks(7-8, 2-4).

“Nate’s just a special kid,” Morrison said. “He works his tail off. When the principal brags on him, the athletic director brags on him, all of his coaches brag on him and all of his teachers brag on him, you know he’s a pretty special kid. He brings it in the classroom. He brings it on the field or on the court.”

Jaleel White had four points and five rebounds. Quashaun Williams had three points and eight rebounds. Sabine Wheeler and Amir Jenkins had three points apiece. Jalen Evans and James Shaw had one point apiece.

Senior Quez Jones and junior Johnathan Patterson had 11 points apiece to lead the Trojans (4-8, 1-6).

“(Patterson) has played well for us lately,” Gage said. “And what I’ve liked is he’s played aggressive.”

Nick Avery had five points. Chris Mills had four points. Xavier Bailey had three points. Cohen Walker had two points.

All four quarters were closely contested. Central outscored Triton 11-5 in the first quarter and Triton outscored Central 14-9 in the second quarter, 8-6 in the third and 16-10 in the fourth.

A key turning point happened early in the fourth quarter. With Triton holding a 29-27 lead, Pegues was fouled in the process of making a three-pointer and made the ensuing free throw for a four-point play and a major momentum shift in the Hawks’ favor. Central was unable to cut the lead to less than five the rest of the game.

“It was huge,” Morrison said. “It was a big shot and he hit it and knocked down the free throw. With two minutes to go in the second quarter, he told me, ‘Coach, I’m playing like crap.’ I told him, ‘That’s the beauty of basketball. It’s a long game, you’ve got a chance to redeem yourself and you’ll come through.’ And he did.”

Harnett Central won the junior varsity boys game, 54-52. Neither school has a JV girls team.

Triton is at conference opponent E.E. Smith and Harnett Central is at conference and county rival Western Harnett on Thursday night to start the second half of conference play. The games were moved up from Friday night due to the threat of inclement weather.