CREEKSVILLE – The hometown Northampton-East Rams held off a late comeback to beat the Louisburg Warriors 51-41 here Tuesday night.

The Rams began the game aggressive defensively, pressing the ball and trapping whenever possible.

This strategy paid off as the visiting Warriors simply succumbed to the pressure.

The Rams forced three consecutive turnovers and took advantage of them all, scoring six transition points on the way to building a 13-6 first quarter lead.

The second quarter proved to be more of the same as the Rams consistently pressed, making it almost impossible for the Warriors to execute their half court offense.

Adrian Sawyer led the way for the home squad, scoring six of his game high 20 points in the second period.

Despite their effort, the Rams were unable to pull away from Louisburg and the Warriors found themselves down just 25-13 going into halftime.

Rams head coach Donald Gibbs asked his team to refocus during the break and begin the second half much like they did the first.

His squad would not disappoint.

They continued to attack the Warriors half court offense and managed to extend the lead to 33-17 with just over four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Louisburg quickly responded, scoring 10 unanswered points to cut the Rams lead to eight.

Northampton- East would not be outdone, however, finishing the period with a 9-2 run of their own to make the score 42-26 going into the final quarter.

Louisburg began the fourth quarter with hopes of a thrilling comeback.

It looked as if their hopes could become reality as the Warriors connected on two quick shots from beyond the arc to cut the lead to nine with 5:23 left in the game.

It was too late, however, as the Rams, no longer able to stop the Warriors from scoring, seemed content to trade buckets and maintain their lead.

If that was their plan, it worked to perfection as Northampton East held on for the 51-41 win.

&uot;Jovon Jordan sets the tone for us defensively and he did a tremendous job of that this evening&uot;, said Gibbs.

&uot;He loves playing defense and is content to get his points in transition, it makes our whole team better&uot; added the coach.

The win improves the Rams conference record to 5-3 on the season.