The King’s Fork High School boys’ basketball team has been up and down for much of this season thus far, and its play in its own Christmas tournament was no different, yielding a 2-1 finish in the Bulldog Christmas Classic.

The Bulldogs played well enough against Smithfield High School, getting the win, and excelled against Menchville High School to advance to Saturday’s championship game against Norview High School.

With poor defense and shots not falling in the first half, King’s Fork trailed 40-14 at halftime, and its improvement in the second half was not enough to avoid a 65-50 defeat.

Bulldogs coach Josh Worrell said his team would play well for four or five minutes, then have a lull.

“When you play elite-level teams like Norview, you can’t do that because they’ll make you pay for that,” he said. “They shot the ball extremely well.”

Worrell said the Bulldogs started out well, but then they fell behind 19-7 by the end of the first quarter. The Pilots’ run continued in the second quarter as they extended their lead to 27-7 before KF junior forward Keith Stagg finally interrupted it with a three-pointer.

Though the Bulldogs were not doing well defensively, they had a startling number of opportunities on offense as they grabbed a myriad of offensive rebounds.

“They just couldn’t finish,” Worrell said, noting many of the attempts were in the paint. “When we’re around the rim, we should be able to put the ball in the hoop.”

With the Bulldogs down by 26 at halftime, he made it clear to his team that it needed to improve defensively.

It did, but he said it could only get within nine points with about four minutes to go in the game.

Norview, which Worrell regards as one of the top two or three teams in the region, was playing without one of its guards, who was injured earlier in the tournament. But the Pilots’ depth made this of little consequence.

Worrell had a message for his team after the game.

“If you want to be at the level Norview is right now, you’ve got to come back in here Monday and work hard,” he said, referring to preparation for future games.

Looking back on Friday, Worrell praised the Bulldogs for executing the game plan well against Menchville.

“They did a very good job of staying focused on what we needed to do,” he said, and the performance resulted in a 58-49 win. KF senior guard Craig Ingram had a game-high 23 points.

Making the all-tournament team for King’s Fork were Stagg and Ingram.

“Keith did a good job of getting his teammates involved,” Worrell said, noting it’s not always about him having to score.

“Craig just plays hard all the time, and he shot the ball well against Menchville, and then, against Norview he played with no fear,” Worrell said. “He just gives us everything he’s got every time he’s on the floor.”

The Bulldogs (7-4, 2-0) host Hickory High School on Tuesday.