NK strategy keys win over Poquoson
A strategy of often switching defenses from zones to man-to-man and even adding a gimmick like a diamond-and-one helped New Kent’s unbeaten Trojans stay that way. New Kent befuddled Poquoson’s invading Islanders sufficiently to gain a 67-61 victory.
The Trojans improved to 3-0 in Bay Rivers District basketball play and 4-0 overall with the Dec. 14 decision.
“Switching defenses is not what we usually do, but we put it in for [Poquoson] and I think it kept them off-balance,” said Trojan coach Ed Allen.
“This was a game of runs,” he said, noting each team’s penchant for putting together strings of eight or 10 unanswered points over the course of the contest.
Luckily for his Trojans, they were able to sink just enough free throws down the stretch while the Islanders came up empty from three-point range on a last-ditch run attempt.
Early on, the Trojans opened with a 1-3-1 half-court trap and threw in a little man-to-man pressure plus traps out of a 2-3 zone to keep the Islander offense guessing. The ploys worked as New Kent built a 13-4 advantage.
The visitors, however, managed a run of their own, closing the gap to one at 15-14, but missing a tying free throw as the first quarter ran out. New Kent failed to sink a field goal over the final four minutes.
Michael Owens’ shot from the top of the key and Steven Allen’s three-pointer keyed a 10-0 New Kent run to start the second quarter. Then it was the Islanders’ turn to launch a 10-point run to tie.
New Kent responded with an 8-0 spurt climaxed by Donavan Gipson’s basket off an Adam Otey assist to break the deadlock and put the hosts in front 32-24. At the break, New Kent owned a 37-28 advantage.
But midway through quarter three, Poquoson had pulled within two at 41-39. New Kent held off the Islanders over the rest of the period, but the visitors caught the hosts at 49-49 at the buzzer on Gene Efird’s stick-back of a teammate’s miss for two of his game-high 25 points.
The Trojans then surged to start the final period. Owens and Justin Williams scored off steals and Everett Christian’s second chance shot opened a 55-49 lead, but back came the Islanders who narrowed the gap to a field goal at 60-58 on Chad Pinder’s trey from the corner.
Christian answered with a trey and Allen sank both ends of a bonus free throw opportunity to extend the advantage to 65-58. Pinder buried another trey with just over a minute to play, but the Islanders were shut out the rest of the way. The visitors missed three shots from three-point range in the final seconds.
New Kent, meanwhile, got front end double bonus free throws from Dorrein Akrie and Nick Sickal down the stretch. The Trojans sank just four of 11 second half free throws, but of that they converted four-of-six after missing five in a row.
New Kent placed four players in double figures led by Allen’s 15 points. Christian tossed in 13 while Owens finished with 11 and Sickal recorded 10. Williams totaled eight followed by Otey’s five, Gipson’s three, and one each from Akrie and Paul Kearney.