Colonial Beach jumps out early, frustrates Panthers with pressure defense

Charles City’s Damian Zuidema (11) battles for a rebound against Colonial Beach’s Cahlil Johnson.

Robb Johnson photo

Charles City’s struggles on the offense continue. And when an offense struggles and there are mistakes on the defensive side, it can be disastrous.

The visiting Colonial Beach Drifters used a first quarter run and frustrating pressure to dispose of Charles City’s Panthers 80-45 in Saturday night’s matchup.

From the jump, Colonial Beach used an up-tempo style against the homestanding Panthers. The result was a 14-0 run out the gate for the Drifters. Charles City’s first points finally came from Damian Zuidema’s three-pointer. Another three by teammate Gavin Stewart sparked a 9-4 run, allowing Charles City to close the gap to nine (18-9).

But every tick-for-tack score by Charles City resulted in an outburst for the Drifters. By the end of the first, baskets by Colonial Beach’s Isiah Oyson upped the visitors’ advantage to 14. Panther errors to kick off the second stanza saw the hosts struggle to get the ball past halfcourt. Meanwhile, The Drifters would increase their lead to 22 (49-27) by the end of the first half. From there, Colonial Beach had no issues as Charles City’s offensive struggles continued, resulting in the aforementioned final score.

After the contest, Charles City Head Coach De’Quantae Mason spoke about his team’s lackluster performance.

“We were falling for their traps,” the disappointed head coach said. “We needed to match their physicality because we couldn’t outpace them.

“We just need to convert on open shots and take care of the ball,” Mason concluded.

Charles City (1-2) received a game high 12 points from Shane Jones, while Stewart also finished in double figures with 10. Terrell Crawley pumped in seven, Zuidema tossed in six, James Harris IV scored five, Damian Barnes Jr. contributed three, and Ke’Vonta Meekins chipped in with two.