In the first intra-city battle of the new boys basketball season, Nansemond River went into Lakeland as the early season frontrunners and nothing had changed by the end of the night as the Warriors jumped ahead early on the Cavaliers and led throughout for a 66-50 victory.

It was a fast-paced, but perhaps just a bit too-excited start for both sides in front of a full house at Lakeland.

Through the opening 3:30, NR had the lone field goal and a 2-0 lead.

It took Lakeland until the 3:25 mark of the period to get on the board, and by that time NR had built a 6-2 lead.

The Warriors kept forcing Lakeland’s offense into either turnovers or tough shots and slowly but surely, the Warriors kept building their lead through the first period.

A steal by Andre Jones turned into a lay-up and a three-point play, making the score 12-2 and NR led 14-4 after one period.

In the quarter, Lakeland managed just one field goal versus nine turnovers.

After a scoreless first eight minutes, Mark Brown single-handedly took care of the offense for most of the second period.

On his way to a game-high 24 points, Brown rained in three treys in the span of four NR possessions and only 1:20 off the clock in the period, taking NR out to a 23-6 lead.

Brown added an old-fashioned three point play, finishing off a fast break, giving Brown NR’s first 12 points of the period.

Lakeland began to work their way back into the game through the last five minutes of the half.

Handling NR’s defense better and also getting plenty of chances at the foul line, the Cavaliers drew within 31-23 with 1:02 in the half after a technical foul on NR head coach Ed Young gave Lakeland a six-point possession.

Darren Copeland drained four foul shots in a row and then Voyland Cooke drove into the lane and hit a jumper.

NR’s Calvin Mason hit a pair of free throws to end the half’s scoring, giving NR a 33-23 lead.

Jones and Brown had 12 a piece in the half for the Warriors and Cooke led the Cavs with nine points.

Lakeland put up their biggest threat of the night right out of the locker room.

In the first 45 seconds, Kenny Fletcher scored a lay-up off a feed by Cooke and Copeland hit a trey, bringing Lakeland within 33-28.

The Warriors regrouped with a basket from Jones ending the Lakeland run and a couple possessions later, Paul Walters canned a 15-foot jumper to rebuild a 10-point margin.

By the end of the third period, a couple more Brown threes helped NR to a 51-34 lead and Lakeland was unable to make a serious run in the last eight minutes.

For the Cavaliers, Cooke was all over the floor as he finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

Fletcher added 13 points and Copeland had 11.

For NR, Brown’s 24 led the way and he also had five rebounds.

Jones had 21 points, six rebounds and four steals and Quinton McDuffie added eight rebounds and seven points.

NR (2-0, 1-0) goes to Deep Creek on Tuesday and Lakeland (1-3, 0-1) goes to Oscar Smith Tuesday.