Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s boys’ basketball team took on one of the top high school teams in the country on Thursday, and it did not go well for the Saints.

Cape Henry Collegiate School visited NSA and left with a lopsided 81-21 victory.

“We knew we were going to be up for a very uphill battle, but we wanted our kids to compete and not to be intimidated and play scared, but unfortunately, we let their size and speed get to us,” Saints coach Chris Prince said.

Cape Henry’s size and speed contributed to Nansemond-Suffolk turnovers and lots of points.

“They’re a great basketball team,” he said, noting the impact the Dolphins have made on the national scene.

The USA Today Super 25 Expert Rankings for boys’ basketball teams across the nation listed Cape Henry at No. 14 as of Feb. 6.

Ranked No. 1 as of Feb. 6 was Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson in Southwest Virginia. Cape Henry played Oak Hill on Jan. 24 and took the Warriors to double overtime before finally falling, 81-76.

Prince said he worked to prepare his players in practice for what Cape Henry (23-2, 7-0) is capable of, but in the actual game, “the ball goes up in the air and you’re getting overwhelmed, it can be a snowball effect, and that’s what happened.”

Dolphins senior guard/forward Chris Clarke led his team with 33 points, sophomore guard Iziah James had 20 and senior guard Marcus Evans added 10.

No Saints scorers reached double figures, as senior center Keith Cooper and senior forward C.J. Patterson finished as their team’s leaders with six points apiece.

Highlights were hard to find for NSA, and its own players were even surprised by their performances.

“Keith Cooper made a couple nice post moves,” Prince said. “I thought he played hard, but none of our kids gave the effort that they thought they would.”

The coach suspects his team will have to face Cape Henry again in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools tournament later this month.

“If we played them a hundred times, I think they’d beat us a hundred times, but I think we can play a lot better than we played last night,” he said.

Nansemond-Suffolk (7-13, 2-5) visits Alliance Christian Academy this afternoon at 4 p.m.