AHOSKIE – The effort was there and so was the victory.

Hertford County High School’s varsity boys gave veteran basketball boss Charles Simmons the hard work and effort he was expecting from his team and the result was a comfortable 76-63 victory over non-league fore Rocky Mount.

“I was pleased with our effort tonight,” Simmons said. “We got the ball inside in the second half and pulled away. This is a good win over a solid Rocky Mount team.”

Leading by just two (38-36) late in the second quarter, the Bears began pulling away when Shea

Johnson hit a three-pointer and Marcus Burnell buried a pair of free throws to give HCHS a 43-36 halftime lead.

The Bears continued building on the advantage, opening the second half with back-to-back field goals from Darren Everett to secure a 47-36 lead.

The Gryphons battled back, scoring seven of the next 10 points from buckets by Tashawn Mabry and Charles Penny interrupted only by a triple from LaMarcus “Buck” Jenkins. The result was a 50-43 HCHS lead.

The Bears added to that margin with a deuce from Burnell and a Lamar Monger three and led 59-49 by the end of the third quarter.

Burnell, Hertford County’s leading scorer with 18 points, started the fourth with a bucket that was followed by a Tydreke Powell score to build the Bears’ lead to 63-49.

Moments later Hertford County began to stretch the lead with back-to-back Burnell buckets and a Powell hoop that made it 71-54.

Early on the contest was close with Rocky Mount getting the first two baskets of the game on Mabry deuces.

Hertford County responded with a hoop and a foul shot by Andre Lyles and then took the lead on a 9-0 run midway through the period.

Danny Dembry started the spurt with his bucket followed by a three-pointer from Jenkins and baskets by Powell and Burnell that made it 14-10 in favor of the Bears.

In addition to Burnell’s 18 points, the Bears got 13 from Powell and 12 from Jenkins. Monger added nine and Everett had eight to go along with seven from Lyles.

HCHS (76): Marcus Burnell n 18, Tydreke Powell n 13, LaMarcus Jenkins n 12, L. Monger n 9, D. Everett n 8, A. Lyles n 7, P. Downing n 4, S. Johnson n 3, D. Dembry n 2

Rocky Mount (63): Tashawn Mabry n 24, Alonzo Sharpe n 11, Montrell Battle n 10, M. Cooper n 8, C. Penny n 5, N. Hutcheson n 2, J. Richardson n 2, J. Boulware – 1