AHOSKIE – You can stop a player.

It’s hard to stop a team.

Hertford County continued to show their ability to distribute the basketball and get points from a variety of people as they rolled to 15-2 on the season with a 71-39 victory over First Flight here Friday.

Four HCHS players were in double figures during the contest, led by 16 points from Marcus Burnell. LaMarcus Bond had 15 points while Tydreke Powell chipped in 12 and LaMarcus Jenkins added 10.

While the offense was balanced (a total of 11 players scored), it was the defense that was the most pleasing to veteran HCHS skipper Charles Simmons.

&uot;I was really pleased with our defensive effort tonight,&uot; he said. &uot;Our defense forced turnovers which led to fast-break points.

&uot;We still need to work on our half-court offense against a zone, but this was a good win,&uot; he added.

Hertford County got back-to-back hoops from Jenkins and Marcel Henneghan to take an early 4-0 lead, but a triple from Isaac Jacobson made it 4-3 in a hurry.

The Bears, however, rolled off eight consecutive points to take a commanding lead.

Lamar Monger started the spurt with a hoop that was followed by a pair of free throws from Jenkins. Bond and Antonio Branch then hit consecutive hoops to push the Bears’ lead to 12-3.

First Flight got within seven (16-9) on a Matt Preston bucket to close the first quarter, but the Bears would again pull away.

Wayne Pryor buried a triple to start the second quarter which was followed by a Burnell hoop that made it 21-9.

The Nighthawks hit consecutive hoops to close within eight (21-13), but a Branch free throw, a hoop by Jenkins and a triple off the hands of Bond made it 27-17 by the end of the half.

The HCHS lead stayed about the same until midway through the third quarter.

At that point, Bond had a three-pointer and three free throws to go along with back-to-back Powell buckets to put the Bears on a 10-0 run that helped them take a 45-25 edge going into the final period.

Hertford County (6-1 in the league) will take to the road Tuesday when they travel to Northeastern for a rematch with the Eagles. Northeastern gave the Bears their only conference loss of the season.

Hertford County (71): Marcus Burnell – 16, LaMarcus Bond – 15, Tydreke Powell – 12, LaMarcus Jenkins – 10, L. Monger – 4, A. Branch – 3, W. Pryor – 3, C. Mizelle – 2, M. Henneghan – 2, P. Downing – 2, A. Bean – 2

First Flight (39): Isaac Jacobson – 11, M. Preston – 8, S. O’Neil – 6, C. Peal – 5, A. Jacobson – 4, O. Brey – 2, J. Rudolph – 2, N. Watts – 1