Charles City can’t crack code to beat New Kent, drops 16th consecutive game in rivalry

Charles City's Leo Charity (23) and New Kent's Jared McCaughan (35) battle it out for a rebound.

Andre' Jones photo

Like trying to crack an egg, every time New Kent’s Trojans threatened to pull away from Charles City’s Panthers in Saturday afternoon’s rivalry game, the homestanding Panthers fought back. But it wasn’t until midway in the final frame where the shell shattered the hopes of Charles City snapping its consecutive loss streak to the visiting Trojans.

New Kent’s unselfish offensive play resulted in four players finishing in double figures as they defeated Charles City’s Panthers 64-51 to push their consecutive win streak to 16 games in the series.

Charles City only led twice in the contest, with their last being a Leo Charity to Tanner Grubbs lay-in early in the opening quarter. But from there, New Kent began to use ball movement that saw Evan Branch drain a wing three followed by Jalen Banks trifecta in front of Charles City’s bench. Branch’s high bank lay-up built a nine-point advantage for the Trojans (13-4) and forced Charles City to call a timeout. Despite the timeout, Banks drained a long-distance shot while teammate Jared McCaughan added back-to-back scores to put the guests ahead 20-11 after the first quarter.

Trojan guard Robb Kinder’s free throws and subsequent basket provided New Kent with a 13-point lead. But from there, that 10-point threshold would be something the visitors would struggle with for the remainder of the contest.

Charity became more successful finding scores for the Panthers. A pair of free throws along with close range baskets cut the deficit to eight points (32-24). After each team exchanged lay-ups, Charity’s jumper cut the margin to a mere six before Dean Powell’s close-range basket provided New Kent a 36-28 halftime advantage.

Every time the Trojans made a run to make the lead exactly 10 points, Charles City answered. However, after Panther guard Christian Stewart’s three-pointer cut the lead to seven, the guard received a technical foul on the defensive end for slamming the ball. Momentum swung in favor of the visitors as Kinder scored six consecutive points along with J. J. Jacobs lay-in provided the Trojans their biggest lead of the night at 16 points (52-36).

But as with the contest, the momentum scale tipped back into the favor of the hosting Panthers. Kameron Johnson’s floater along with his step-back three-pointer awed the crowd and cut the lead to 11. On the next trip down, Panther guard Steven Williams picked up a scrambled ball and was fouled by New Kent’s Powell, which ended being his fourth. Visibly frustrated, Powell argued the call resulting in a technical and another personal, disqualifying him from the game. Charles City took advantage, trimming the Trojan lead to ten points once again by the end of the quarter (52-42).

A baseline drive by Grubbs along with a Johnson to Charity connection capped off a Panthers 10-0 run to bring the game back within a half-dozen (52-46) and resulting in New Kent head coach Ronnie Cox to call for a timeout. The break in the action paid off for the visitors, as a Banks lay-in paired with free throws by McCaughan and a Mitch Morse corner three-pointer sparked a 7-0 run for the Trojans to build up a double-digit lead that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest.

After the game, Cox praised his team’s unity on the court after the short turnaround the night before.

“We played unselfish today and we tried to win the game today,” he said. “I’m real proud of them. Sometimes there are kids who can play selfish but today we worked together.

“You have to give it to Charles City as they didn’t give up,” Cox continued, pointing to the inability for his team to pull away. “We had to keep playing hard because we didn’t have too much of a cushion.”

From Charles City’s side, head coach Terrell Brooks preached to his team after the game about playing each possession one at a time.

“Today we had a lot of bad habits and played stressed out in some situations,” he said. “Basketball is about each possession and it’s a continuous cycle of doing everything over and over.

“We were lacking consistency today and resistance on defense,” Brooks added. “We were not aggressive on defense. However, if we took that aggressiveness we had on offense and applied it to defense, then we will be alright.”

Branch and Morse both led New Kent (6-7) in scoring with 11 points apiece, while teammates Powell and Kinder finished right behind them with 10 points each. Banks and McCaughan both tossed in eight, Jacobs scored four, and Kevin Harris chipped in two for the victors.

Charles City (3-11) received a game-high 19 points from Charity. Johnson scored 16, Christian Stewart finished with five, Grubbs contributed four, Keenan Stewart tossed in three, and Rashad Williams chipped in with two.