Boys’ Basketball: Warhill 98, New Kent 65

Warhill’s Luke Patterson ducks to avoid airborne New Kent defender Chase Dunn.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Through this young basketball season so far, New Kent’s winless Trojans have stumbled out of the gate in every contest, allowing an opponent to grab the upper hand and placing the Trojans in comeback mode.

Hosting Warhill’s Lions on Dec. 5, the same held true, but this time there would be no serious New Kent rally. The Lions built a double digit first quarter lead and pulled away from there on the way to a 98-65 Bay Rivers District win. The Lions remained unbeaten at 3-0 while the Trojans fell to 0-4 overall, 0-3 in the district.

“If we could just get one good first quarter, we could be okay,” said Trojan coach Ronnie Cox afterward. “Every game we’ve come out and set a bad tone in the first quarter.”

With his starters unable to handle the Warhill attack and the Lion lead approaching 30 in the third quarter, Cox decided it was time to give his bench some action.

“I decided to cut our losses and give our other guys a chance to play,” he said. “It was not quitting. These other kids have waited their turn and deserved a chance to play, and they did fine.

“There’s a lot that’s new to these kids and I’ve got to be patient with them,” he said. “No one’s going to give it to them. I need to see more intensity and for us to play harder and rebound harder.”

Warhill owned a 20-7 advantage after one quarter. Blake Kelly’s three to start the second period pulled new Kent back within 10, but the Lions’ Brandon Pugh answered with one of his five first half treys. The Trojans never got closer.

At the end, Warhill had six players scoring in double figures. Kelly tossed in 16 points to lead New Kent while Micah Scorsone finished with 13. Jamar Murray added nine followed by Parrish Braxton’s seven, Tommy Hale’s five, Joseph Nash’s four, two each from Travis Claytor, Chase Dunn, C.J. Lee, Rashad Bentley, and Christian Block and Drew Ashford’s one.

“We’re not giving up,” Cox said. “We’ve got a lot of season left. We’ve just got to keep fighting and it will turn.”