LASKER – Northeast Academy ran away Friday night.

The Eagles secured their second consecutive win in the Greater Lasker Shootout by burying former league rival Halifax Academy 64-37.

&uot;We wanted to get out to an early start, put some pressure on the ball and turn that into steals and easy baskets,&uot; Eagles’ coach John Brown said. &uot;We were able to do that, but overall I wasn’t as pleased with our defense tonight as I was last night.&uot;

Northeast surged to an early lead and never faltered Friday.

Brian McLean hit three consecutive hoops to open the game and then added another bucket after D.C. Morris got Halifax on the board to give NEA an 8-3 lead.

The Vikings cut the advantage to 8-5, but Northeast rolled off the next 14 points to pull away for good.

McLean hit a bucket before Buddy Duke scored and Drew Pinnix hit a field goal. Duke added two more buckets before Ryan Davis buried a triple to make it 22-5. Northeast led 22-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The Eagles continued to pull away in the second period when McLean and Duke combined for a 6-0 run that pushed the Eagles’ advantage to 35-11.

Halifax cut it to 20 (35-15), but Dustin Deloatch hit a hoop followed by back-to-back buckets from Josh Jenkins to help Northeast to a 41-18 halftime edge.

With a majority of the second unit on the court, Northeast scored just four points in the third period as Halifax got within 15 (45-30).

The Eagles’ starting unit returned for just over three minutes of the fourth quarter, but it was enough to seal the victory as they outscored the Vikings 13-4 to take a 58-34 lead. Again it was McLean and Duke who did most of the damage on the run, although they got help from Pinnix.

Jenkins scored again to make it 60-34 and the Eagles cruised to victory.

&uot;I wasn’t happy with our defensive rebounding all night,&uot; Brown said. &uot;Offensively we did okay, but I wasn’t pleased with the defensive rebounding.&uot;

As for the weekend tournament, Brown said he was glad his team got some work in during the holidays.

&uot;I think it helped us in spurts,&uot; he said. &uot;Mainly, we wanted to get back on the court. It would have helped to have stronger competition because we are heading into a tough part of our schedule.

&uot;Hopefully, we are learning, but we have to continue to work hard to get where we need to be,&uot; he added.

The Eagles will travel to Pungo Christian Academy Wednesday before returning home for a Tarheel Independent Conference showdown with unbeaten Ridgecroft School Friday.

Northeast (64): Brian McLean – 18, Buddy Duke – 15, D. Pinnix – 7, J. Jenkins – 7, D. Deloatch – 6, J. Canady – 4, R. Davis – 3, J. Pope – 2, B. Harrell – 2

Halifax (37): Jeremy Wells – 13, D.C. Morris – 11, R. Forbes – 5, V. Bradley – 4, I. Ros – 3, G. Davis – 1