New Kent sweeps series with Charles City in overtime

Charles City’s Antonio Harris drives for the baseline as New Kent’s Blake Kelley defends.

Andre' Jones photo

In the opinion of some people, the sequel to a blockbuster movie is never as good as the original. By contrast, the second encounter of the classic Charles City-New Kent basketball rivalry could be described as a must-see feature.

Powered by Travis Claytor’s dynamic offensive production and the team’s 10 for 12 shooting from the charity stripe in overtime, the visiting New Kent Trojans took charge in the extra frame as they overpowered the host Charles City Panthers 71-63 in the non-district affair. New Kent also won the first meeting 84-83 in overtime, as they sweep the season series.

In the early going of Saturday’s clash, it wasn’t pretty for the Trojans. After Charles City’s Avery Jones converted a lay-up for an 8-6 lead, New Kent head coach Ronnie Cox was hit with a technical foul, protesting a call that led to an offensive rebound for a Panther score.

The Panthers would take advantage of the opportunity as a 9-0 run followed, powered by the backcourt duo of Jones and Antonio Harris and capped off by Harris’ lay-up to help propel the hosts to a 19-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

With the visitors trailing 25-20 at the five-minute mark in the second quarter, Claytor assumed the lead role. His free throws cut the lead to three, but he wiped that out with a corner trifecta that led to New Kent fans erupting in delight. The cheering continued as his elbow jumper pushed the lead to two.

Not to be left out of the fun, teammate Parrish Braxton scored four consecutive points. The result was a 14-0 Trojan run over a three and a half minute span that propelled the Trojans to a 34-29 halftime lead.

The visitors’ then hit a roadblock in the third quarter. While attempting to grab a rebound, Claytor was forced to the bench with his fourth foul. With the Trojans’ go-to man on the bench, Charles City reserve guard Demaj Frazier would drain back-to-back three-pointers to return the lead to the Panthers 39-38. The lead would seesaw back and forth for the remainder of the frame, with the home team up 45-44.

Claytor returned to the floor at the beginning of the fourth quarter and paid immediate dividends. With the score knotted at 48 apiece, he knocked down another three-pointer for the lead. Charles City’s Ryan Jones added a stick-back to cut the lead to one and Avery Jones followed with another lay-up to give the Panthers a 52-51 lead.

With Harris, the Panthers’ leading scorer, on the bench with four fouls, New Kent made another attempt to close the door. Blake Kelley’s long distance bucket and Chase Dunn’s lay-up handed the lead to the visitors (56-52). Harris returned into the game with just over a minute remaining and dropped a floater over three Trojan defenders. With 32 seconds remaining, Harris converted an easy basket to tie the game.

New Kent pushed the ball down the floor and Claytor was isolated against Panther defender Thomas Kelly. Claytor drove to the basket and absorbed contact from Kelly’s defensive stance, losing possession of the ball and giving it back to the hosts with 23.5 seconds remaining.

Charles City elected to spread the floor for one final shot. With six seconds remaining, Avery Jones attacked the basket and had a clear path for a lay-up. His lay-up rimmed off but was rebounded by teammate Daron Jones, who put a shot back up before the clock expired. But the ball fell off the front of the rim as regulation ended at 56-all.

Gavin Cotman would give the hosts a 57-56 lead to open overtime, but that would be the last lead they would see on the night. Claytor once again found a path to the basket for the score. Teammate Jamar Murray stripped Avery Jones and scored on a subsequent lay-up to stretch the lead.

Charles City got within three, 62-59, with 1:48 remaining on Daron Jones’ free throw line jumper, but after the score, Harris was hit with a technical foul, resulting in his dismissal from the game. Claytor sank both bonus shots and New Kent would knock down free throws over the remainder of the game.

Stats usually can be deceiving, but according to Panther head coach Sharone Bailey, they were a key story to his team’s second consecutive defeat.

“Look at the score book. We shot 6 for 21 from the free throw line,” said the disappointed coach. “We never got into the flow of the game.

“We missed 30 shots that were lay-ups,” he continued. “That’s all we work on in practice, and to not have other players step up hurt.”

Victorious coach Ronnie Cox saw a contest that contained a lot of irony.

“The very thing they did to us in the first meeting we did to them in this game,” he said, referencing his team shooting 22-29 from the free throw line in the contest.

“Tonight, we had to knock down shots and we had to box out better,” he continued. “We also wanted to stop Harris and did a good job on that.”

Cox said that Claytor’s performance was something he is capable of.

“I hate it when [Claytor] is out of the game,” the coach continued. “He stayed within himself and avoided picking up that final foul and helped his teammates play their games.”

New Kent (5-9) was led by Claytor’s 28 points. Braxton also finished in double figures with 15. Kelley finished with nine while Dunn added seven followed by Christian Block’s six, Murray’s four, and Tommy Hale’s two.

Harris led Charles City (8-7) with 21 points, despite fouling out. Avery Jones and Frazier finished in double figures as well, scoring 17 and 10 respectively. Ryan Jones scored six, Cotman five, and Daron Jones and Jovan Howard each scored two.

In the JV contest, New Kent overcame a four point first quarter deficit by outscoring Charles City 14-3 in the second quarter en route to a 37-20 win.

Stephen Carpenter scored 10 to lead the visitors. Ryan Legg scored seven, James Weaver and Austin Pierce added five apiece, Trenton Orie tossed in four, and R.J. Morris, Tyler Jenkins, and Darren McCaughan each scored two.

Charles City was led by Walter Gordon’s six points. He was followed by three each from Noah Ragland and Kyle Jones, and two points from the trio of Devonte’ Strong, Michael Callahan, and Jaquane Wyatt while Jesse Bradby and Charles Vaden chipped in with one point apiece.