Crusaders jump past Saints
Published 8:53 pm Friday, January 29, 2016
In its first matchup against Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School of the season, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s boys’ basketball team had a rough night on Thursday.
The Crusaders left Nansemond-Suffolk with a 76-38 conference win.
Nansemond-Suffolk Academy freshman guard/forward Matthew Patterson looks for a chance to break through the defense of visiting Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School on Thursday. Patterson led his team with 12 points on a night when the Saints struggled early, falling 76-38 to the Crusaders.
“Sometimes kids look at the size of the dog that’s in the fight instead of the size of the fight that’s in the dog,” NSA coach Lamont Strothers said.
Seventeen of the 18 players on the Crusaders’ roster are at least six feet tall, nine of them are 6-feet 4-inches or taller, and several of them displayed plenty of athleticism, as well.
Bishop Sullivan charged out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, and Saints freshman guard/forward Matthew Patterson’s basket in the waning seconds gave NSA its only points of the period.
“Once we settled down and realized that we could move the ball and do other things, we started to be a little more efficient,” Strothers said.
While the Crusaders extended their 15-point lead at the end of the first quarter to 18 points by halftime, the Saints managed to score 13 points in the second period, making the score 33-15 at the half.
Strothers said he saw a similar pattern when his team played Hampton Roads Academy. The Saints started out in a big hole when they played the Navigators at HRA on Jan. 8 and then came out and made a run to close the gap a bit.
On Thursday, Bishop Sullivan had a productive second half offensively, but the Crusaders NSA managed to keep its opponents from running away with the game.
Despite the loss, Strothers saw some things to be encouraged about in his team’s play.
“Every game, we get better,” he said.
Against Bishop Sullivan’s pressure defense, the Saints avoided turnovers that have been a problem.
A college coach was on hand to scout NSA senior guard Logan Lokie.
Strothers said he told Lokie after the game that “had I been that college coach watching you, you helped yourself. You didn’t hurt yourself.”
Lokie did not press, take bad shots or to try to manufacture a comeback, Strothers said. Rather, he was composed, he scored eight points across the final three quarters and he shined in other aspects of the game.
Patterson finished with a team-high 12 points, and senior guard Matthew Shiembob had nine.
Nansemond-Suffolk (6-8, 0-2) visits Norfolk Collegiate School on Saturday in another Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools matchup.
