Warriors rout Oscar Smith
Published 8:11 pm Saturday, December 11, 2010
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Nansemond River’s Ashton Moore scored a game-high 25 points and had five steals as NR beat visiting Oscar Smith 64-41 Friday night. Moore scored 11 points in the second period as the Warriors turned a 6-6 score into a 28-16 halftime lead.
Ashton Moore can go from quiet to taking over on a basketball court in the time it takes one of his jump shots to go in.
Oscar Smith kept Moore and the whole Nansemond River team silent for the first six minutes of Friday night’s district game at Nansemond River. From there on, Moore piled up a game-high 25 points and the Warriors rolled to a 3-0 record with a 64-41 victory.
“It was definitely just the flow of the game,” said Moore, a 6-foot-0 senior guard, “with Shannon and Dontrell and everyone we have, I don’t have to do a lot of scoring. We have lots of good scorers, lots of good ball players.”
“I’ll take a game where I get 10 assists over a game where I score a lot,” Moore said.
The Warriors needed Moore’s shooting and scoring against the Tigers after going scoreless for most of the first quarter.
Michael Copeland’s offensive rebound and putback made it 6-2 Tigers and thanks to Oscar Smith committing almost as many turnovers as the Warriors in the earlygoing, the Warriors worked back to a 6-6 tie going to the second period.
Eryck Robinson’s basket in the low post, followed by a steal and pull-up jumper on the break by Moore gave NR a 21-16 lead with 2:18 to go in the half.
After another defensive hold, Moore drained a three-pointer. A Tiger turnover sent Dontrell Brite on another Warrior break. Brite dished to Kendric Washington for a lay-in and a 10-point lead. Two more points for Moore gave him 11 in the quarter and NR a 28-16 halftime lead.
“Basically we just had to have confidence. A game’s not about the first few minutes, it’s about how you finish,” Moore said about the opening struggles.
“We know we can play together. We can play blindfolded. We’re that close as a team,” Moore said.
The Warriors held a double-digit lead throughout the second half. Shannon Evans’ three-pointer sparked a 7-0 run midway through the third period to put NR up 38-20.
Brite scored eight points in the half and Evans added seven combining with their backcourt mate who scored 12 points in the foruth period, including 8-for-8 at the foul line to keep NR’s margin comfortable.
Moore finished with five steals and four boards to go with his 25 points. Brite had 12 points, five steals and five assists.
Most of the Warrior scoring came from their guards. Inside, Copeland finished with nine points and nine rebounds and John Joyce had an excellent defensive effort with 10 rebounds and five blocks.
Warrior head coach Ed Young credited Washington, Robinson and Jemal Cannon for their jobs on the defensive end as well.
Oscar Smith made 1 of 19 three-point shots. The Warriors took 15 steals to five by the Tigers.
The Warriors (3-0) travel to King’s Fork (4-0, 3-0) Tuesday night.