HC sweeps foes
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 21, 2004
AHOSKIE – The Bears got up off the deck quickly.
A week after being knocked off by Northeastern Coastal Conference foe Currituck, the Bears grabbed back-to-back victories Friday and Saturday to move to 2-1 on the season.
On Friday evening, the Bears knocked off Northeastern 63-59 in a contest that went down to the wire.
Leading 61-55 late in the contest, the Bears withstood an Eagles rally that trimmed the deficit to only two (61-59).
Jeremy Banks hit 1-of-2 from the line before Matt Dixon buried a trey that cut the Hertford County lead to 61-59.
Frank Gatling sealed the win when he hit two free throws to secure Hertford 6-59 victory.
The contest had been close throughout with Northeastern scoring the final six points of the first quarter to grab a 14-10 lead.
Jemel Leverette hit 1-of-2 from the line to start the second period and propelled Northeastern to a 15-10 lead.
Hertford County responded by going on a 9-0 run to grab a 19-15 lead. A Michael Moore hoop sparked the spurt. Gatling hit the next bucket before senior Ken Lee scored four consecutive points. James Futrell scored the last point from the line.
The result of that run was the two teams were deadlocked at 30-all at the intermission.
Hertford County used a huge third-quarter run in which they outscored Northeastern 12-1 to grab a 42-31 advantage.
The Eagles rallied to trim the margin back to three by the end of the third quarter and that advantage remained until late in the fourth period.
Lee led the way for HCHS with 15 points while Leonard Burnell had 10 points. LaMarcus Jenkins contributed eight points while Gatling, LaMarcus Bond and Wayne Pryor had six each. Marcus Burnell added five points. Northeastern was led by 18 from Banks.
The win evened the Hertford County Northeastern Coastal Conference record at 1-1.
Saturday evening was a little easier for the Bears as HCHS put three players in double digits during a 74-62 win over Brunswick County High School.
Lee again led the way with 19 points while James Futrell added 12 and L. Burnell had 10 points. Gatling and Bond had nine each while Jenkins contributed eight points.
All five scorers for Brunswick had double figures. Ronald Churchill and Justin Stewart each had 14 points while Tyree Williams and Earl Wilson had 12 each. Bevonne Lewis added 10 points.
Hertford County used a strong first quarter to gain a 10-point advantage. Bond and Lee started the scoring with back-to-back hoops.
A 6-0 HCHS run in which Bond, Jenkins and L. Burnell had score to put Hertford County up 12-5.
Lewis stopped the spurt momentarily, but Hertford County had six straight (four of which were from Futrell) to grab a 17-7 advantage at the end of the first period.
Brunswick used a 16-2 run late in the second quarter to grab a two-point (28-26) halftime advantage.
The third quarter saw Hertford County rally into the lead thanks to back-to-back treys from Lee and Gatling. They led by a 47-45 count at the end of three.
After falling behind 58-57 late in the game, the Bears exploded for 17 of the next 18 points scored to secure the victory.
The Bears will travel to non-league foe Wilson Hunt tonight.