New Kent overcomes foul trouble for 79-69 win over West Point

New Kent's Cameron Downer has his shot challenged by West Point's Marshall Gill.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Shrugging off serious second half foul problems, New Kent’s host Trojans staged a crucial third quarter run, turned back a fourth quarter West Point rally, and closed out a 79-69 basketball triumph over the Pointers with free throws down the stretch.

Wednesday night’s outcome completed a sweep of the season series with the Pointers and raised New Kent’s record to 5-9.

The Trojans never trailed and only two ties (8-8 and 30-30) occurred, but the Pointers hovered within striking distance. The game’s turning point, however, came early in the third quarter after the Pointers wiped out the hosts’ 30-28 halftime advantage. New Kent broke the final deadlock with a 17-2 run, despite point guard Kyle Claytor and top post player Jason Whitlow spending most of the quarter on the bench in foul trouble.

“It was crazy,” said Trojan head coach Ronnie Cox. “We had some issues with fouls, but we made a run. It all happened so fast.”

Justin Cox’s trey put the finishing touches on the third quarter surge, opening a 47-32 lead with 2:50 remaining. The Pointers, however, refused to wilt. Nearing the five-minute mark of the final period, a Chase Stewart three narrowed the gap to 56-52.

“[The Pointers] died hard, and they would not go away,” coach Cox said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We had to go into overtime to beat them over there.”

New Kent regained control behind conventional three-point plays courtesy of Claytor and Cox. Claytor sliced through the lane to score and draw a foul, completing the first three-point play with 5:02 to go in the third. Seconds later, Cox scored off a Ryan Lugg assist, got fouled, and converted at the stripe to bump the lead back to double digits at 62-52.

“We had a lot of guys make plays,” coach Cox said. “Darren McCaughan came in off the bench and did a real good job on their scorer. He made steals, got rebounds, and did things that don’t show up in the scorebook.”

Over the final four minutes, the Trojans sank 11 of 17 from the stripe to hold off the Pointers. West Point never drew closer than six the rest of the way.

Claytor’s 20 points and 17 each from Cox and Whitlow led the victors while Lugg tossed in 14. Ethan Ashford finished with seven while Tyler Jenkins and Austin Pierce chipped in two apiece.

Owen Buckner’s 16 points, Stewart’s 15, and 14 from A.J. Jones topped West Point.

“We had four players in double figures,” coach Cox said. “We’ll take it; that’s part of being a team.”