New Kent struggles past York
New Kent’s performance in turning back York’s Falcons in Bay Rivers District basketball probably won’t be listed among the host Trojans’ finest outings of the season.
New Kent topped the Falcons 79-71 in the Feb. 3 contest, but Trojan coach Ed Allen expected a little more from his players, especially when taking on an opponent that entered with a 6-9 record.
“It’s that old adage that an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, and that was pretty much it tonight,” he said after his team improved to 10-4 in the district and 13-4 overall.
“I don’t know if we were tired from last night,” he said, pointing to a win at Smithfield. “We missed too many easy lay-ups, and we spent time trying to block shots and not rotating on defense. We just didn’t play well.”
That was not the case early on as three-point baskets from Michael Owens and Kevin Chavis helped the Trojans open a 10-2 lead. Just past the first quarter’s midpoint, the advantage reached 16-4 and it appeared a rout was on.
But the Falcons refused to allow the Trojans to pull away. By quarter’s end, the visitors were back within eight at 18-10, and at halftime, the Falcons remained with striking distance, trailing by a dozen.
“[The Falcons] were scrappy,” Allen said. “They didn’t quit, and they did not back down a bit.”
New Kent tried to put the game away early in the third quarter. J.B. Berkley scored five points in a 7-2 run that upped the Trojan lead to 17, but York responded with six unanswered points to reduce the gap to 11.
Moments later, the Trojans’ Nick Sickal completed a conventional three-point play and followed that effort with a three from behind the arc.
But again the Falcons embarked on a 6-0 spurt, fueled by Trojan turnovers, and were back within 11. It was an 11-point game (64-53) heading into the final quarter.
Aaron Edwards’ baseline jumper to open the fourth quarter lowered the deficit to single digits (64-55) for the first time since it was 34-25 midway through quarter two. Then when Nate Gordon’s stick-back cut the gap to 69-61, Allen had seen enough and ordered his team to spread the floor on offense.
“We felt we could at least get to the foul line,” the coach said. “We went to the spread and we missed six lay-ups that I thought we got fouled on, but [the referees] didn’t call it. At least they were consistent with that.”
But despite the Trojans’ inability to net lay-ins and pick up fouls, York failed to make serious inroads by consistently turning the ball over. The Falcons reduced the margin to five (73-68) with 1:10 left to play, but were forced to foul to get the ball back down the stretch.
By then, however, New Kent was on the double bonus and the Trojans took advantage with Steven Allen and Sickal combining to sink six straight free throws over a 27-second span to put the game out of reach.
Allen converted his second double bonus opportunity with 22.7 seconds left, creating a comfortable 79-68 lead.
Allen finished with 21 points while Sickal tossed in 17 to lead the Trojans.
Owens ended with nine followed by Paul Kearney’s eight, five each from Berkley and Dorrein Akrie, four each from Justin Williams and Donovan Gipson, and three apiece from Chavis and Adam Otey.
Troy Cheek’s 17 points led York while Gordon finished with 16.
York broke a 42-42 deadlock late in the fourth quarter of the JV game and pulled away from there for a 51-45 win.
Paul Robinson’s 12 points and 11 from E.J. Gray led New Kent. Justin Parsley totaled nine followed by Zach Jacobs’ seven, Anthony Snipes’ four, and three from Chris Sickal.