After slow start, Trojans sharp in taking out York

New Kent’s Christian Block finds an opening between York defenders Eric Haup (left) and Staffon Smith.

Alan Chamberlain photo

For New Kent’s Trojans, their 78-59 conquest of York’s visiting Falcons fell into the solid win category. But to watch the opening moments of the Jan. 30 Bay Rivers District basketball clash, the opposite appeared imminent.

Midway through the first quarter, the Falcons owned a 13-3 lead. The visitors sank five of their first six shots from the floor while New Kent missed four of five and turned the ball over on three occasions.

“We looked so flat, it was crazy,” said Trojan coach Ronnie Cox. “Then in the second quarter we turned it around. That second quarter really set the tone.”

New Kent cut the Falcon lead in half late in the first quarter. And by then, the hot shooting Falcons from early on had gone cold.

York missed nine straight shots from the floor over a span of four minutes. New Kent took advantage, overtaking the Falcons on a Jamar Murray free throw and back-to-back baskets from Travis Claytor. Claytor’s second of two free throws less than two minutes into the second quarter put New Kent on top 22-21. York never led again.

“We got that lead, and I wasn’t expecting it,” Cox said. “I’d like to think it was good defense rather than bad shooting.”

Claytor and Blake Kelley went to work from behind the three-point arc, sinking a pair apiece as the half wound down. By intermission, the duo had three treys each and New Kent owned a 40-30 advantage.

York fell behind by as many as 14 in the third quarter, but had trimmed the deficit to six at 58-52 just seconds into the final period. Kelley, however, stemmed the Falcon comeback with consecutive threes to bump the Trojan lead back into double digits. Rashad Bentley then stuck back his own miss and Claytor followed with a lay-in off a steal to complete a 10-0 run that put the game out of reach.

“Kelley’s threes were the knife in the heart,” said Cox. “You could really feel the momentum in the fourth quarter. We wanted to take good shots and just execute, and we did a good job.”

The Trojans, specifically Murray, took Falcon point guard Brandon Harvell out of the game. In the two team’s first encounter at York, Harvell poured in 27 points. Tonight, he totaled just 10.

“Jamar did an outstanding job on [Harvell],” Cox said. “Once [Harvell] gave up the ball, Jamar really locked him down and limited his touches. That was a big factor.”

Claytor finished with 22 points while Kelley totaled 19 for the Trojans, now 5-9 in the district and 7-11 overall. Parrish Braxton reach double figures with 14 followed by Tommy Hale’s eight, Murray’s seven, Bentley’s six, and Christian Block’s two.