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An easy conference opener suddenly turned into a trap game with two minutes left at Dave Smith Gym Wednesday night.

The Washington boys jumped out to an early double digit lead over West Craven in their first Eastern Plains Conference game and led by 14 with 6:25 left in the contest.

Perhaps their minds wandered to Friday’s showdown with Eastern powerhouse Farmville Central or maybe they got stuck in cruise control.

Whatever the explanation was, the Eagles clawed back to a 59-59 tie with two minutes left.

The Pack (8-3, 1-0) suddenly snapped out of their funk with a Jarryn Payne three-pointer from the right corner, four free throws from Chaise Smith and a Payne dunk for a 68-63 victory.

“Our mojo was off all night, but we found a way to clamp up and finish the win,” coach David Allewalt said. “Chaise and Jarryn came up big for us at the end and Gary Payne was consistent down low for us all night. It could have been a trap game with Farmville next, but we managed to survive.”

West Craven fell to 6-3 and 1-1 in conference play.

Gary Payne led four Washington players in double figures with 17 points, while guard Jerai Davenport added 16, Smith had 14 and Jarryn Payne finished with 10.

“We needed that performance from all those guys and Jacob Daniels also did a lot to help us win,” Allewalt said “He made several hustle plays to get us extra possession and other little things that led to big things. We’re going to need everybody’s best game against Farmville Friday.”

The Pam Pack girls lost, 68-34, to fall to 1-8, while West Craven stayed undefeated at 8-0. Junior Breanna Perry scored 24 points to lead Washington.

“We did our best to compete and didn’t quit,” coach Stevie Green said. “This was the first of many tough conference games for us and we’ll keep working. We trailed the whole game, but kept playing hard.”