AHOSKIE – Hertford County High School moved to 4-2 here Saturday.

The Bears knocked off non-conference foe Northampton County High School – East 71-57 to secure their fourth victory of the season. Jquwan Ruffin and Wayne Simmons led the way for HCHS with 23 and 22 points respectively.

Jamar Williams paced the Rams with 21 points.

The first quarter was a high-scoring affair with the teams combining for 34 points.

The Bears led by as many as five (18-13), but Northampton rallied with a free throw from Travis Wiggins and a Tremayne Bowser hoop as they closed the gap to 18-16.

HCHS opened the second quarter with six unanswered points – Brian Beale, Simmons and Jarrett Sexton each scored – and built their lead to 24-16.

Northampton got a bucket from Chris Bishop, but Dwight Vaughan and Sexton scored on back-to-back buckets as the Bears pushed their advantage to 28-18.

A Williams hoop for the Rams was followed by a three-pointer from Vaughan and a free throw by Beale as the Bears led 32-20.

Williams responded with an old-fashioned three-point play to close the gap to under 10 (32-23).

After an exchange of scores, the Bears were back in front by double figures (37-27), but Evans Grant hit a three-pointer and was fouled. He made the extra shot from the charity stripe and closed the Northampton gap to 37-31.

The teams exchanged buckets until Bishop scored from three-point land as the first half closed, leaving the Bears with a 41-36 halftime edge.

Hertford County wasn’t able to add much to the lead, nor could Northampton chip away at it during the third quarter until late in the period when Simmons hit a field goal and Ruffin scored five points in a row to push the Bears ahead 54-45.

Williams answered for the Rams to close the gap back to seven (54-47) after three quarters.

The fourth quarter started well for the Bears as Simmons sandwiched a hoop and a three-pointer around two Grant free throws for the Rams. Ruffin then scored from behind the arc and Simmons added another hoop to give Hertford County a 64-49 lead.

The Rams had a 5-0 run late in the game, but the Bears closed the contest with 5-of-6 from the free throw line to secure the 14-point win.

In addition to those in double figures, the Bears got seven from Beale and six each from Sexton and Shabazz Atkins. Vaughan added five while Maurice Earley and Kevin Privott had one each.

Grant, Wiggins and Bishop each scored nine for the Rams while Kyshwan Gaskins had five and Bowser added four points.