AHOSKIE – It wasn’t the Northeastern Coastal Conference opener the Bears had in mind.

Tuesday night, Hertford County High School struggled offensively and came out on the short end of a 69-39 league loss to Northeastern High School.

The Bears put just one player in double digits – 13 from O’Shane Ximines – while Northeastern countered with five players scoring 11 or more.

Unfortunately for the home team, the game got away early. Northeastern scored the first 10 points of the contest and held a comfortable lead before the Bears got on the board.

Ximines finally stopped the run with a hoop and then added a free throw before Jarrett Sexton scored to get the Bears within 10-5. They trailed 14-6 by the end of the first quarter.

Northeastern scored six of the first eight points of the second period thanks to free throws from Marquis Whidbee and hoops by Courtland Nelson and Travis McWilliams. That gave the visiting team a 20-8 edge.

Darius Wright buried a  triple and Dorrien Askew had a free throw to get the Bears within 20-12, the Eagles scored eight of the next 10 to again pull away. They led 28-14 after that spurt.

Ximines again stopped the run, this time with a pair of free throws, but Northeastern closed the first half with six straight points and took a 34-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Hertford County opened the third quarter by scoring six of the first eight points and closing the gap to 36-22, but Northeastern answered with five straight and led 41-22. They eventually claimed a 49-32 edge by the end of the quarter.

The Eagles put the game away in the opening part of the fourth period when they scored 18 of the first 20 points and claimed a 67-34 advantage from which they never looked back.

Northeastern was led by 16 from Aaron Carver while Whidbee and Trey Carver scored 15 each. Nelson added a dozen while McWilliams chipped in 10.

In addition to Ximines’ double-digit efforts, the Bears got seven Wright, five from Askew and four from Sexton. Juan Moody scored three points while Maurice Early, Ryan Weaver and Jquwan Ruffin had two each. Jemel Monger rounded out the scoring with one point.

Hertford County dropped to 3-5 overall with the loss and 0-1 in the Northeastern Coastal Conference.