Deficiencies in all phases of the game cost New Kent in loss to Jamestown

New Kent's Ryan Lugg looks to pass to a teammate after being trapped in front of the Jamestown bench by the Eagles' Mark Lipscomb.

Alan Chamberlain photos

Following Friday night’s basketball home opener with Jamestown’s Eagles, New Kent head coach Ronnie Cox admitted his team failed to execute, box out, or shoot well. He also said his Trojans didn’t show up to play, looked past their opponent, turned the ball over too much, and were flat.

“It’s a recipe for disaster,” the coach said. And he was correct.

Jamestown (1-1) cruised to an 83-53 victory, handing the hosts their second loss in as many tries during the still young season.

The Trojans struggled from the opening tap. Turnovers plagued the hosts on their first four trips into the offensive end. The Eagles took advantage, scoring seven unanswered points off the miscues to lead wire to wire.

A free throw trifecta from Ethan Ashford erased the zero on the New Kent side of the scoreboard, but the hosts could not draw closer and never connected from the floor until Trey Cox scored off penetration with 3:16 left in the first quarter. Jamestown, however, led 11-5 after Cox’s basket and added another seven before the Trojans could tack on their second field goal.

Jamestown owned a 26-8 advantage heading into quarter two on 10-for-17 shooting from the floor. By contrast, New Kent got off only 10 shots, sinking just two while turning the ball over eight times.

Missing from the Trojan offensive arsenal — three-point shooting. The hosts never found the range from behind the arc in the first half, but sank three after the break. By then, however, the contest was out of reach.

“We were not making the shots we were trying to get,” coach Cox said concerning threes. “They closed on us defensively on the perimeter and closed us out.

“We wanted to get defensive stops and then convert to get back in the game, but we didn’t get the stops we needed,” he said. “Then they hit some threes and pulled away.”

Kyle Claytor’s 11 points and 10 from Ryan Lugg led New Kent. Trey Cox tossed in nine followed by Ashford’s seven, Jason Whitlow’s six, Tyler Jenkins’ three, two each from Jared Lugg, Justin Cox, and Austin Pierce, and Darren McCaughan’s one. Evan Wang’s 16 points led a quartet of Eagles in double figures.

“I knew it would be one of those kinds of years,” coach Cox said, looking back on heavy personnel losses due to graduation from last season’s conference playoff team. “But we’ll keep slugging it out and we’ll be all right.”

New Kent’s Justin Cox pivots away from Jamestown’s Michael Schmidt after being cut off in the lane.