LASKER – A 9-0 run to close out the first quarter was enough.

Northeast Academy’s varsity boys, who were in a tight contest leading only 7-6 with just over three minutes to play Saturday night at the Greater Lasker Shootout, rolled off nine unanswered to close the first period and catapult them to a 66-49 win over Southampton Academy.

The victory was their second during the tourney and their seventh in eight starts as they also dropped Brunswick Academy on Friday night by a count of 55-48.

Ball movement keys Saturday’s win

With two and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter, Brian McLean drained a deuce to give Northeast a 9-6 edge and start the run that gave the Eagles a double-digit lead.

His deuce was followed by a hoop from Lance Jenkins and a basket and trey by Rich Edwards to push the Eagles to a 16-6 advantage after the first quarter.

McLean and Southampton’s Mike Hinton exchanged hoops to start the second quarter, but Buddy Duke and Edwards hit back-to-back three pointers to push the Eagles out to another spurt.

McLean hit a hoop before a free throw from Hunter Harrell and a trey by Edwards gave NEA a commanding 30-8 advantage.

Clay Pearson cut into the lead with a hoop at the 1:44 mark of the period, but that was as close as Southampton got in the quarter.

An ugly series ensued with 12 seconds to play in the half when a foul was called against Southampton followed by successive technical fouls called against a Raider player and head coach Keith Doyle.

The Eagles made 3-of-6 from the line in that succession to lead 33-10 at the intermission.

&uot;We shot a little better tonight,&uot; head coach John Brown said. &uot;We really got out on our breaks and that is what is going to make us a good team.

&uot;We haven’t moved the ball as well as we did in the first half tonight,&uot; he added. &uot;We did a good job of controlling the boards too.

Harrell opened the third quarter with a three-pointer and a deuce back-to-back to push the NEA lead to 38-10 before Pearson hit back-to-back hoops for the Raiders to make it 38-14.

The Eagles eventually pushed the edge to 28 (47-19) when Edwards hit a basket with 2:52 to go in the third.

Southampton rallied for an 8-0 run to close out the period thanks to a pair of hoops and an equal number of free throws from Will Aycock and a basket by Hinton. The result was an NEA lead of 47-27 at the start of the fourth.

The Raiders got as close as 13 (51-38) when Josh Fetheroff hit a hoop and the ensuing free throw with 5:56 to play, but could get no closer.

Northeast (66)

Rich Edwards – 25, Hunter Harrell – 13, Brian McLean – 11, L. Jenkins – 9, B. Duke – 5, T. Davis – 2, C. Vaughan – 1

Southampton (49)

Mike Hinton – 15, Josh Fetheroff – 15, Will Aycock – 10, C. Pearson – 6, D. Sowell – 3

NEA cruises to victory

Four starters scored double figures as Northeast Academy rolled to a 55-48 victory over Brunswick Academy in Friday’s contest.

Edwards (15), Jenkins (13), Harrell (12) and Duke (10) each hit double figures for the Eagles as they used a big third quarter to grab the victory.

With their lead at just one (28-27) to start the third quarter, Northeast went on an 8-3 spurt to start the period.

Duke buried a trey to open the period and then Jenkins dropped in a pair from the free throw line.

Brunswick’s Kyle Barnes hit a trey to disrupt the run, but Harrell answered with three the old-fashioned way – a hoop and a free throw to give Northeast a 36-30 lead.

Brunswick climbed back to within two when Corey Morris hit a trey with 3:07 to play in the period, but the Eagles answered with a trifecta each from Edwards and Harrell to take a 42-35 advantage.

The lead was still seven (44-37) when Duke hit a trey as time expired in the quarter to push it to 10.

After an exchange of buckets to open the fourth quarter, Aaron Rich dropped in a hoop and Justin Raper hit a three to get the Vikings to within five (49-44) with just under six minutes to play.

A Harrell hoop with 3:04 to play gave Northeast a seven-point advantage and served as the last basket scored from the floor. The two teams exchanged free throws the rest of the way with the margin never getting closer than five.

NEA jumped out to an early 7-1 lead in the contest thanks to hoops from Edwards and Duke and a three-pointer from Edwards.

Brunswick rallied with a free throw from Wil Daniel and a hoop and free throw from Barnes.

The lead was six for Northeast until Morris drained a trey as time expired in the first quarter to cut the Eagles’ lead to 14-11.

Morris tied the game just 17 seconds into the second quarter when he hit a trey, but Edwards answered with a trifecta just before McLean chipped in a hoop and Jenkins added a free throw to give the Eagles a 20-14 edge.

Brunswick cut into the lead thanks to successive hoops from Rich and Raper before Barnes hit a pair at the free throw line with 51 seconds left to trim the NEA lead to one (28-27) at the break.

Northeast (55)

Rich Edwards – 15, Lance Jenkins – 13, Hunter Harrell – 12, Buddy Duke – 10, B. McLean – 4, B. Barrett – 1

Brunswick (48)

Kyle Barnes – 19, Aaron Rich – 11, C. Morris – 9, J. Raper – 7, W. Daniel – 1, J. Hoff – 1

(Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald Sports Writer Thadd White contributed to this story.)