By Tommy Bryant

Sports Writer

LASKER – Hobgood Academy spoiled Senior Night festivities here Friday.

The Raiders, who won the Tarheel Independent Conference, topped Northeast Academy 62-50 in the regular-season finale for both clubs.

Hobgood started with a 2-0 lead, but Northeast bounced back when Logan Simonowich and Avery Hargrave hit back-to-back buckets to give the Eagles the lead.

Ryan Williams added to that advantage with a field goal at the 4:36 mark of the first quarter as the home team secured a 6-2 lead.

Hobgood got back within one on a three-point play, but Northeast continued to maintain the lead thanks to a Brad Johnson hoop and a three-pointer by Will Glover.

The Eagles built a 13-7 advantage thanks to a Hargrave hoop with 1:24 to play in the quarter.

Hobgood tried to battle back, but a three-pointer from Johnson was enough to give the Eagles a 16-11 lead after one quarter of play.

The Raiders roared back with six straight points to take a 17-15 edge, but Northeast wasn’t going anywhere.

Glover sandwiched a pair of hoops around a Johnson bucket as the Eagles roared back in front by a count of 22-17.

While the teams exchanged hoops, the Raiders weren’t able to close the gap and the Eagles went into the locker room holding a 28-23 edge.

The Raiders closed the gap to 28-25 early in the third quarter, but buckets from Glover and Simonowich were followed by a free throw from Williams. Glover then added another bucket as Northeast took a 35-25 advantage with 4:18 to play in the third quarter.

While the Eagles held that lead, the rest of the period belonged to Hobgood as the visiting squad outscored Northeast 14-5 the rest of the way to close to within one (40-39) by the end of the period.

Northeast didn’t go down without a fight as Glover and Simonowich sandwiched hoops around a Hobgood score to push the lead to 44-41.

The Raiders, however, rolled off 15 unanswered points from the 4:32 mark of the quarter all the way to 1:54 to surge ahead 59-46.

Northeast broke the streak with a hoop by Johnson, but Hobgood’s lead was too much to overcome as the Raiders held on for a 62-50 win.

Despite the loss, the Eagles finished third in the Tarheel Independent Conference under first-year Head Coach Danny Lafferty.

They will be in action Tuesday in the first round of the TIC tournament when they take on Terra Ceia Christian School. The game will be played at Ridgecroft School, the host for this year’s tournament.