New Kent back to winning ways with 63-53 conquest of Tabb

New Kent's Blake Kelley penetrates the lane and dishes off for an assist. The pass found Christian Block open in the corner for a three that put the Trojans up 53-37 in the fourth quarter.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Striking early and often from three-point range, New Kent’s Trojans built a first half lead over Tabb’s invading Tigers and held the visitors at bay the rest of the way to get back on the basketball winning track tonight (Friday).

The Trojans buried 10 threes — six in the first half to open a double-digit lead just before halftime and four that helped put the contest out of reach after intermission. In the end, the hosts walked away with a 63-53 victory to offset their lone loss to Grafton two nights earlier and improve to 3-1.

“We’ll take that,” winning coach Ronnie Cox said afterward, pointing to his team’s three-point shooting accuracy. “That was the difference in the game.

“We rebounded a lot better tonight, and we didn’t give up many second shots,” he said. “We tried to stay between the basket and man, packing it in as tight as we could and figuring they could only beat us with threes.”

And the Tigers could not respond. Tabb converted just two shots from behind the arc, both belonging to guard Terrell Sheffey who finished with a game-high 26 points.

But Sheffey’s effort wasn’t enough to offset four Trojans in double figures led by Christian Block’s 16 points. Micah Scorsone totaled 14 while Blake Kelley and Kevin Karaffa tossed in 12 and 11, respectively.

The foursome also combined for nine of the Trojans’ 10 threes topped by Block’s four. Scorsone and Karaffa each buried two while Kelley and Trey Cox converted one apiece.

Threes from Karaffa and Scorsone highlighted a 10-0 run that broke a 21-21 deadlock late in the first half. Tabb crept back with six unanswered points before the buzzer, closing the gap to 31-27 at the break, but another Trojan run to start the third period handed the hosts firm control.

A Karaffa field goal opened the run and Kelley closed it with a conventional three-point play and a shot from beyond the arc to up the hosts’ lead to 39-27. New Kent led by 10 to start the final quarter before Block took over. His back-to-back threes, the second from the corner off a Kelley assist, put the hosts comfortably in front 53-37. Tabb never got closer than the final score.

Trey Cox finished with three points while Jason Whitlow and Christian Hill-Sanders added two apiece for the Trojans.