Bears suffer second straight loss

Published 9:32 am Thursday, December 17, 2009

ELIZABETH CITY – The Bears hit an unwanted mark Tuesday night.

A 69-64 loss to Northeastern High School dropped Hertford County to 0-2 in the Northeastern Coastal Conference and 1-2 overall.

Travon Baum led all scorers with 22 points to pace the Eagles upset win while Terry Williams added 19 and Raekwon Harney had 14 points. Hertford County was paced by 15 from Dontez Tyler, 12 from Jordan Jones and 10 from Dekimis Perry.

A sluggish start was likely the cause of the Hertford County loss as Northeastern raced out to a 10-4 lead before the Bears could get going offensively. Williams started the 10-point early spurt for the Eagles and had six of the 10 points.

Hertford County responded with a hoop each from Tyler and Jones.

The Bears then got a free throw from Perry and another Jones bucket as they closed within 10-7. Baum got a three-pointer for Northeastern, but the Bears scored five of the next eight to close the gap to 16-12. Jones had four of the five points for the Bears.

The teams exchanged shots to close out the first quarter with Northeastern holding a 17-14 edge.

They pushed that lead to six (20-14) when Williams started the quarter with a three-pointer, but the Bears came back with a hoop and two free throws from Jones to close the lead to two (20-18).

Northeastern began to pull away throughout the remainder of the quarter as they outscored the Bears 18-11 the rest of the period. The biggest spurt came in the closing minutes of the first half when Northeastern outscored their visitors 7-2 to establish the 38-29 final.

The Bears weren’t able to gain much ground in the third quarter as they closed the gap by only one point ending the quarter down eight (53-44).

The Eagles started the final period with a 5-0 run thanks to a bucket by P.J. Etheridge and a hoop and a free throw by Baum and took a 57-44 lead.

Hertford County came back with a hoop by D’Isaac Jordan, a triple by Perry and a field goal from Tyler as they closed within 57-54 with 4:01 to play in the quarter.

The Eagles came back with a three-pointer by Harney, but the Bears responded with a Perry hoop.

The Bears got as close as three points (65-62) after a Petey Boone three-pointer with 32 ticks left on the clock, but the Eagles sealed the win at the free throw line.

The Bears will try to right the ship Friday when they travel to Kill Devil Hills to meet First Flight High School.