The Dillon Wildcats slipped to 3-3 last week with losses from Marlboro County and Richmond County in boys varsity basketball.

On Tuesday, the Wildcats hosted Marlboro County and fell 55-45 to the visiting Bulldogs.

Marlboro took an 11-8 lead in the first quarter and out scored Dillon 12-6 in the second for a 23-14 lead at the half. The Bulldogs held off the Wildcats with a 17-17 third quarter, and a 15-14 rally from the Wildcats in the fourth was too late to close the gap.

Dillon was led by JaQuan Knowlin with a game-high 15 points and Lawrence Crouch with 11. Raheem McClam earned 6; Bethea, 5; Joe Manning, 3; McCollum, 3; and Rakeem Fletcher, 1.

Marlboro County was led by Fred Brown, also with a game-high 15 points, and Cameron Johnson with 12. Littles and Wilson added 8; D. Knox, 6; K. Johnson, 6; and L. Johnson, 1.

On Wednesday night, the Wildcats traveled to Fairmont to face Richmond County in the Robeson County Shootout, falling 74-69 in the first round.

Dillon took a 20-11 lead in the first quarter and went 26-22 in the second to carry a 46-33 lead into the half. But Richmond outscored Dillon 19-14 to cut the lead to 60-41, and the defense held the Wildcats to nine points in the fourth quarter while pouring in 20 to take the win.

Omar McCollum led the Wildcats with a team-high 14 points and Rakeem Fletcher and Joe Manning each added 11. JaQuan Knowlin and Lawrence Crouch each earned six points; Gerome McLeod, 5; Darius Bethea, 4; Avery McCall, 4; Raheem McClam, 4; Aaron McCollum, 2; and White, 2.

The Raiders were led by T.J. Watkins with 17 points and Lavell Ellerby with 15, with Jaylen Terry and Trey Pettigrew adding 14 points each. Leon Ziegler added 10 points, and Octavius Patterson earned four. Watkins grabbed 10 rebounds, and Ellerby picked up 13 with Pettigrew grabbing 13.

The Wildcats are now 3-3 on the season and were scheduled to face South Robeson on Thursday night in the consolation bracket.

Fairmont defeated South Robeson 86-46 on Wednesday night in the first round of the shootout.

UPDATE: Dillon fell to South Robeson on Thursday night and was eliminated from the tournament. Due to early holiday deadlines, look for more coverage of the game in the Thursday, December 25 issue of THE DILLON HERALD!