New Kent boys’ basketball routs Lakeland in playoff revenge game

New Kent’s Christian Joyner (left) battles a Lakeland defender in a scrap for a rebound.

Robb Johnson photo

After being upset by the Lakeland Cavaliers in the first round of last year’s Group 3A Region A playoffs, New Kent Trojans wanted to wash that bad taste from their mouth and find relief from the stinging of that loss. That taste quickly went from sour to sweet during the Dec. 10 contest.

New Kent routed Lakeland 93-63 in the non-district affair to keep their undefeated record intact.

After jumping out to an 8-2 lead, the Trojans found themselves up by one (11-10) after Lakeland orchestrated an 8-3 run of their own. But from that moment, it was all New Kent.

Kyle Diggs’ hoop plus one started the Trojans’ run. A Christian Joyner hoop plus a trifecta by Will Ross upped New Kent’s advantage to 22-10. Josh Reedy joined in on the scoring with a basket of his own, and another Diggs’ three-pointer continued the run. Ethan Smith’s trifecta at the buzzer for New Kent ended the first half with a 19-3 run and a 30-13 halftime advantage.

The Trojans’ lead grew to 44-18 when the starters came out the game. Lakeland took advantage, putting together a 19-2 run to cut New Kent’s advantage back to single digits (46-37). But New Kent Head Coach Garrett Ross reinserted the starters, using defense to build the lead back to double-digits and completing the rout of the visitors.

The coach talked about the motivation going into the contest and the impact last year had on his current squad.

“You remember it and you want the team to get better from our past mistakes,” Ross said. “I love the way our team is playing. We are all connected and it doesn’t really matter who’s scoring.”

New Kent (3-0) placed four players in double figures with Diggs (29), Ross (17), Marty Wray (14), and Joyner (10). Reedy tossed in eight, Smith pumped in seven, Dylan Bowman added three, and the trio of Kingston Young, Kris Leeper, and Michael Hetzel all chipped in with two apiece.