Lakeland High School’s boys’ basketball team used a tremendous second half to pull away and defeat host Nansemond River High School 79-65 on Thursday.

Entering the game, the Cavaliers held a 13-5 record after only narrowly falling 58-54 to two-time defending state champion I.C Norcom High School on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Warriors were 8-9 after losing 70-56 to host Kecoughtan High School on Tuesday.

But when it came to Thursday’s crosstown rivalry game, “you kind of want to not mention the records because games like this, that doesn’t matter,” Lakeland coach Clint Wright said.

The gym was packed, the game was intense and tempers even flared briefly after the contest, but the game was ultimately a tale of two halves.

Wright noted these games are about the answer to questions like, “Who wants it? Who can make the most plays?” And he said Nansemond River made the most plays in the first half.

The Warriors led 13-10 after the first quarter and 33-30 at halftime.

“We gave up 30 points in the first half, (49) in the second,” NR coach Ed Young said. “So, what changed? They didn’t change personnel. They didn’t do anything special or different.”

He first pointed to his team’s poor interior defense.

“We didn’t commit to the box out, we didn’t commit to the rebound, we didn’t commit to our defense that we were in,” he said, noting the game’s outcome was disheartening. “It’s a game we should have won.”

Wright said that after the Warriors’ strong start, he told his team, “We’ve got to buckle down and really find a way to win.”

Young was pleased with how his team was defending Lakeland senior forward Deonta Knight, but then senior forward Xzaevious Brown stepped up in the second half to finish with a career-high 20 points, adding 15 rebounds and three blocks.

“We can do a fairly good job on lead scorers, and then we allow somebody else to have a career day,” Young said.

Brown is now the sixth player this season to be a game-high scorer for Lakeland. Wright said Brown was able to do it, in part, because the opportunity was there.

“The scheme that we do, the way we play, is just an opportunistic system,” Wright said.

Wright noted that the Cavaliers had some confusion-fueled problems on defense in the first half, so he simplified things by telling his team to use a man-to-man defense for the entire second half.

“There was no second-guessing,” Wright said, and the result was that “we kind of impeded (the Warriors’) progress.”

Another key player for Lakeland was senior guard Jamonte Ricks, who finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and two steals.

“He is the one who is so consistent and gets things done when you’re worried about everybody else,” Young said. “Knight’s their best player by far, Ricks is the glue of the team — that’s just the bottom line.”

Limited, in part, by foul trouble, Knight still produced 10 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. Junior guard Jerry Goodman had 11 points, while senior guards Daquan Boyette and Qurante Budd scored eight points apiece.

Leading the Warriors was senior guard Torrence Williams with 16 points, shooting 4-for-7 from three-point range and adding three assists. Senior guard Josh Covington registered 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, senior guard Darius Jones had 11 points and four assists and sophomore center Resean White had eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Lakeland (14-5) hosted Frank W. Cox High School on Friday and visits Denbigh High School on Tuesday. Nansemond River (8-10) visits Bethel High School on Saturday and hosts Menchville High School on Tuesday.