Jaguars cruise over Pack in rematch

Published 12:01 pm Tuesday, February 4, 2025

By Jason O. Boyd

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You don’t have to be perfect to beat Farmville Central’s boys basketball team. You have to be pretty darn close, however.

Washington wasn’t anywhere in that area during last Friday’s Eastern Plains Conference rematch at Dave W. Smith Gymnasium. As a result, the Jaguars rolled to a 97-70 win. The win gives the Jaguars (16-4, 8-0) a two-game lead in the EPC standings as the regular season winds down. Washington fell to 13-6, 5-2 going into Tuesday’s game at Greene Central.

“They played harder than we did,” Washington coach Dave Allewalt said. “They made a constant effort to play with a high level of intensity on the defensive end of the floor. And we had trouble taking care of the ball. We were loose with it.

“And they got off to a really good start and shot the ball really, really well. And, you know, you can’t be successful if you give up 50 points in the paint. And this is the second time in a row that we played them that we’d given up 50 points in the paint.”

Washington missed its first five shots and turned the ball over twice. The Jaguars used that and a 14-0 start before the Pam Pack were able to respond. From that point, it seemed like every time the Pack tried to rally, the Jaguars had an answer.

Chaise Smith nails a 3-pointer with 1:16 left in the first quarter and the Jaguars score the final six points to extend the lead to 26-12. Javon Williams hits a scooping layup to cut the deficit to 33-16 and Farmville Central promptly scores eight points in less than a minute to force the Pam Pack into a timeout.

Farmville Central led 48-24 at the half and just kept pouring it on. Jacob Daniels and Jarryn Payne hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the third quarter and the Jaguars closed out minutes later for a 70-43 advantage.

“Well, one of the things they do really well is they’re a transition basketball team.,” Allewalt said. “So they do a really good job of getting the ball out of the basket on scores and pushing the ball up the floor. If you fall asleep and you do not get back on defense and match up, then you’re in big trouble.

“And they exploited that this evening, and they got off to a 12-0 start in the ballgame, and they never looked back. You know, when they got to a 20-point lead, I thought, you know, coming out of the break, I thought we kind of played even all the way through.”

So while it’s obvious Farmville Central is still the king of the EPC, the Pam Pack have to bounce back and keep pace with SouthWest Edgecombe, which held a one-half game lead in the standings going into Tuesday. Washington has to win games at Greene Central, North Pitt and Ayden-Grifton before hosting SouthWest in a pivotal game to end the regular season.

“You know, God works in mysterious ways, right?” Allewalt said. “I mean, maybe he intended for us to get it handed to us tonight so we can refocus, rechannel, and start working towards some other goals that we had going into the season. So, you know, there’s really nothing more you can say about it.

“I’m not a guy to make excuses. When somebody plays better than you, they play better than you. They were just flat-out better than we were tonight.”

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