By Matthew Hatfield

Special to the News-Herald

For the second straight year, one of the premier basketball players in the city of Suffolk is on the move.

Keith Stagg, a 6-foot-5-inch small forward from the Class of 2016, will not spend his senior year at King’s Fork High School. Instead, he will transfer to Quality Education Academy, a private school located in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“It was really a family decision I brought up to them,” Stagg indicated. “Basically, I was ready for a change in environments. Being around people that want to make it and get to the next level. Also, it’s a chance to start preparing for college.”

Last year, King’s Fork’s rival Nansemond River saw a pair of talented swingmen, Scott Spencer and K.J. Davis, leave the Warriors. Spencer transferred to Blue Ridge and recently made a verbal commitment to Clemson, while Davis spent his sophomore year at Norcom and scored a game-high 16 points in their 52-40 win over King’s Fork in the Group 4A State Championship last March.

When Stagg entered the King’s Fork program, the Bulldogs were expecting him to be their sixth Division I college basketball signee in the program’s history, following the likes of JaQuon Parker, Jamar Wertz, Davante Gardner, Jay Copeland and Zach Johnson.

Stagg holds holds scholarship offers from Bethune-Cookman and High Point but says he’s also drawing interest from Illinois State, Nebraska-Omaha, Texas and Virginia Tech.

“With how Virginia does things as far as graduation, it’s just the best situation for Keith,” King’s Fork head boys basketball coach Josh Worrell said.

“I talked to his dad, and it was a decision between his mother and dad to send him down to Quality Education in Winston-Salem. He said he appreciated what I did for Keith the past two years, getting him to be a better basketball player and a better person.”

As a junior at King’s Fork, Stagg averaged 17.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game while making 83 percent of his free throws. He was chosen First Team All-State.

Stagg reflected on his two years of varsity playing for the Bulldogs, which included the school’s first appearance in the state championship game since 2009.

“My time at King’s Fork was great. I learned a lot about my game there,” Stagg said. “Coach Worrell is a great coach and mentor. He taught me a lot.”

Worrell echoed similar sentiments, expressing what Stagg meant to the program in a short period of time.

“He did a great job for us. Coming in as a sophomore, it was his first year of playing high school basketball, learning how to play at that level and then being able to excel in spurts. He was a really good scorer and very multi-dimensional,” remarked Worrell, optimistic the Bulldogs will remain a factor in Group 4A next winter.

Three starters from last year’s team — center Chris Roscoe, wing Rontre Pope and point guard Deshaun Wethington — are among the host of players slated to return.

“We have a lot of pieces that we can continue to do well with and think that we’ll still be a good basketball team. We’ll just be without the services of Keith,” Worrell continued.

“My whole thing to them has been that I’ve never cared who scored the basketball anyways. We don’t look for one person to be that guy all the time. I think we’ll still be successful in what we do as a unit.”