EDENTON – Hertford County started the Northeastern Coastal Conference season just like they have the non-conference slate.

The Bears rolled to a 74-53 win at Edenton Tuesday night, getting 24 points from LaMarcus “Buck” Jenkins as HCHS claimed their fifth victory in as many starts.

“It’s always good to get a conference win on the road,” Hertford County skipper Charles Simmons said. “We did a real good job in our transition offense tonight in making smart decisions.

“We had a decent defensive effort,” he added. “Overall it was a good conference-opening win.”

The Bears rushed out to an 11-2 lead thanks to a 10-0 run early in the first quarter. Jenkins and Lamar Monger paced the spurt as the two combined for all 10 points.

Moments later Jenkins hit two shots in a row and Danny Dembry buried a bucket as the Bears took a 19-8 lead enroute to a 22-12 lead after the end of the first quarter.

Edenton scored seven of the first nine points in the second quarter to get within 24-19, but the Bears scored nine of the final 11 points of the first half to lead 40-25 at the intermission.

The Bears got back-to-back-to-back buckets from Jenkins, Monger and Darren Everette to open the third quarter as they took a 46-25 edge.

Hertford County closed the quarter on the same type of spurt as Jenkins, Dembry and Monger scored and Marcus Burnell added a free throw as the Bears extended a 52-36 lead to 59-36 by the end of the period.

Add to that, buckets by Jenkins and Jacob Dunlow to start the fourth and the Bears held a commanding 63-36 advantage.

In addition to Jenkins’ 24 points, the Bears got 14 from Monger, 12 from Patrick Downing and 10 from Everette to have a solid outing.

The Bears will be at home Friday night when they host Northeastern Coastal Conference foe First Flight.

HCHS(74): LaMarucs Jenkins n 24, Lamar Monger n 14, Patrick Downing n 12, Darren Everette n 10, D. Dembry n 5, P. Moore n 4, A. Lyles n 2, J. Dunlow n 2, M. Burnell n 1

Edenton (53): Darnell Spears n 13, Duane Mercer n 12, J. Duncan n 9, D. Hoffler n 8, T. Vaughan n 6, A. Parks n 3, D. Walton – 2