Senior Corey Collins has a simple explanation for the success of a Pinecrest basketball team that improved to 22-2 with an 84-63 home victory over Hoke County on Monday.

“It’s the chemistry,” he said. “We all like playing with each other. It’s the same in practice as it is in games.”

Making their first varsity starts on Senior Night, Collins and Juan Russ helped an all-senior lineup jump out to a commanding 21-6 lead. The league champions went on to win their 12th game in a row, finishing 10-0 in the Southeastern Conference.

Seniors James Baldwin, Daquain Towns and Cedrick Threadgill led the Patriots with 18, 17 and 11 points respectively.

The Patriots are scheduled to entertain the winner of Tuesday’s contest between Lumberton and Hoke tonight at 7 p.m. in one of the semifinal games of the conference tournament.

Collins drove for the first basket of the game. Julian Brewer then found Threadgill open for a pair of threes that hit nothing but net. A moment later, Collins fed Baldwin for a basket that made it 10-2. Russ blocked two shots in the early going and was an intimidating factor on several others.

“Those two kids are well-ingrained in our system,” Patriot coach Mike Apple said of Collins and Russ. “They know exactly what’s going on.”

The young Buck squad cut a 13-point halftime deficit to 45-36 early in the third period on a basket by Kentrel Black. But Baldwin scored seven points, and Threadgill drained his third three of the night in a 12-4 burst that put the home team back into cruise control. The last three Patriot baskets of the game were scored by Russ, the final one a crowd-pleasing dunk.

Even though the Patriots clinched the program’s first regular season conference title in 24 years three games ago, junior point guard Phillip Wallace isn’t worried about his team becoming complacent. He says they’ve been talking about winning the conference tournament since before the season started.

“We’ve got to stay focused and not let the record go to our head and stay humble,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of mature people. The seniors provide the leadership and keep us in line.”

The conference tournament concludes on Friday at the court of the remaining highest seed.

Baldwin, Brewer, Harron Carson, Collins, Rakeen McLaughlin, Russ, Threadgill and Towns were honored during the Senior Night ceremony along with student-trainer Ryan Jett and statistician Jessika Thibodeaux.

Also honored were senior cheerleaders Melanie Richardson, Allison Haller, Kathleen Boorman, Kai Salang, Camisha McLeod, Kaitlin Leach, Leah King, Auriel Jeffries, Candis Bouldin and Kaylee Baker.

Hoke 10 18 21 14 — 63

Pinecrest 23 18 24 19 — 84

Hoke – Haggie 3 0-0 6, Walker 0 0-0 0, Morales 6 0-0 13, Black 4 5-6 14, Melvin 5 0-1 10, Hinson 3 0-0 6, McNair 5 1-5 12, Parker 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 6-12 63. Pinecrest – Threadgill 4 0-0 11, Collins 1 0-0 2, Russ 3 0-0 6, Brewer 3 0-2 8, Baldwin 8 1-2 18, Towns 6 5-5 17, Wallace 2 1-2 5, McLaughlin 1 1-2 3, Carson 4 0-1 8, Drakeford 2 0-0 4, Jones 0 0-0 0, Smith 1 0-0 2, Pride 0 0-0 0, McPhaul 0 0-0 0. Totals 35 8-14 84. Three-point goals: (H) 3 (Black, Morales, McNair); (P) 6 (Threadgill 3, Brewer 2, Baldwin).