King William traps Charles City, ends Panthers’ win streak

Charles City's Dawon Johnson (right) was among many Panther defenders who frustrated King William's Dylan Leach throughout the night.

Andre' Jones photo

Coming off victories over Middlesex and Carver Academy, Charles City’s Panthers looked to run their win streak to three during a Feb. 3 Tidewater District matchup against the visiting King William Cavaliers. And for one half, the Panthers and Cavaliers battled back-and-forth in the contest.

But a switch to a trapping 1-3-1 defense by the much taller visitors resulted in a 15-minute drought from the floor for Charles City. And while King William didn’t impress on the offensive end, they did enough to leave with a 54-42 victory.

Both teams battled back and forth for the first quarter and a half before King William’s Owen Longest fadeaway jumper provided a small advantage for the guests (15-13). But Panther freshman Justis Crawley responded with a three-pointer, along with being fouled on the play. Crawley sank the free throw to give the hosts a two-point advantage (17-13)

The Panthers lead swelled quickly, thanks to guard play by Ray Crump and De’Rome Chretien. Crump converted a lay-up and followed it up with a three-pointer from the top of the key. Chretien followed it up with a wing trifecta to hand Charles City its biggest lead of the night (25-15) with 4:30 remaining until the half.

King William regrouped from a timeout, with momentum favoring the guests. Five consecutive points from Jake Dunesky cut the lead to three. A steal and dunk by Jamal Robinson shrunk the margin to a mere point (25-24). That was short-lived as Dunesky’s swipe and score returned the lead to the visitors.

Crawley’s lay-up with 40 seconds until the break temporarily granted the Panthers a lead. But little did anyone know that it would be another 15 minutes in game time before another shot would be converted from the field. Meanwhile, a twisting shot by King William’s Kevin Walter elevated the visitors to a 28-27 halftime lead.

Emerging out the locker room, the visitors employed the use of a 1-3-1 trap, forcing several Panther miscues. And when the hosts were able to get a shot off, they were contested by 6’7” center Jordan Bing. Charles City scored only two points in the third, both coming from the free throw line. Meanwhile, King William mustered 10 points in the frame. King William held the hosts without a basket from the floor until Chretien’s corner three at the 2:23 mark. But by that time, the Cavaliers had established a 13-point spread (47-34) and closed off the game with the win.

After the contest, Panther head coach Wayne Keys said his team lacked poise when returning to the floor after halftime.

“In the first half, we played really well, but when King William switched to that trapping defense in the second half we panicked,” said the coach. “From there, we started settling for three-pointers instead of attacking the rim.

“We were not sharing the ball and what kept us in the game was our defense,” Keys added, pointing to holding King William’s top scorer Dylan Leach to five points, all coming from the free throw line. “While they couldn’t pull away, we couldn’t make a lay-up, floater, or free throw. Those were things we did in our two wins and tonight it just didn’t happen.”

Charles City, who drops to 2-16 on the year, received double figure scoring from Chretien and Crump who finished with 15 and 14, respectively. Crawley contributed six, Kyle Jones and Devante Johnson added three apiece, and Charles Brown chipped in with one.

Dunesky scored 15 points to lead King William in scoring.