By Matthew Hatfield
Correspondent

The King’s Fork Basketball Summer League is underway at King’s Fork High School with games running weekly to the middle of July. Suffolk schools King’s Fork, Lakeland and Nansemond River are among the 12 teams from Hampton Roads participating.

Through one week of play, the host school, King’s Fork, is 3-0. The Bulldogs are one of only three undefeated teams, along with Churchland and reigning Group AAA State Champion Hampton, which eliminated both King’s Fork and Nansemond River during the Eastern Region Tournament last season.

King’s Fork opened play on Tuesday night with a 46-37 victory over an improved Heritage squad from the Peninsula District. They followed that up with another victory over a Peninsula District team, defeating Denbigh 59-31 on Thursday.

Rising 6-foot-1 guard Jacorey Smith scored 20 points in just the first half of the Bulldogs’ win over Denbigh. Smith will be one of the Bulldogs’ key players, alongside senior teammates Byron Taylor (6-foot-4) and Akanni White (5-foot-11). Those three make up a perimeter attack that should be one of the best in the Southeastern District.

Nansemond River, which is staying busy this off-season by participating in the Maury Summer League, as well as Team Camps at Old Dominion University and Christopher Newport, is 1-1 through one week of play at the King’s Fork Summer League. The Warriors lost on Thursday, 59-51 to a Norcom team out of the Eastern District with a pair of Division I prospects on its roster. Nansemond River responded by beating Menchville from the Peninsula District, 46-33.

Leading the way are a couple of holdovers from last season’s Southeastern District Tournament Championship team in 6-foot-4 power forward Ed Drew and 6-foot-3 swingman Kendric Washington. Drew is averaging a double-double so far this off-season, while Washington is a top-notch defender capable of guarding multiple positions on the floor.

Lakeland will go into the second week of play in the Summer League with a 0-2 record, but the Cavs have been challenged by two of the better teams in the area, losing to Norcom and Hampton. While the losses have been by double-figure margins, guard Samson Worrell is expected to be a player to watch with his ability to strike from three-point range.

King’s Fork Summer League scores

June 19

• Western Branch 63, Menchville 59 (OT)
• King’s Fork 46, Heritage 37
• Hampton 44, Norcom 33
• Heritage 56, Warwick 31
• Churchland 58, Denbigh 34
• Norcom 64, Lakeland 46

 

June 21

• Maury 41, Warwick 37
• King’s Fork 59, Denbigh 31
• Norcom 59, Nansemond River 51
• Churchland 46, Maury 33
• King’s Fork 47, Western Branch 35
• Hampton 42, Lakeland 21
• Nansemond River 46, Menchville 33
• Churchland 67, Warwick 36