Nansemond River High School boys’ basketball coach Ed Young expects this will be a rebuilding season for his team, but he also believes the Warriors could easily be 3-0 right now.

They were in the game on Friday night against visiting Deep Creek High School but experienced enough little breakdowns to saddle them with a 72-70 loss and a 1-2 record to start the year.

“I just think for the most part we got outplayed, we got out-hustled by Deep Creek,” Young said. “They just got more loose balls than us, got more rebounds, they got a clutch basket here and there that we didn’t get.”

The Hornets gained an edge with repeated trips inside.

They led 18-13 after the first quarter, and in that period alone, “five of their seven field goals were layups,” Young said.

The Warriors awoke up in the second quarter, led by senior guard Josh Covington, whom Young expects to continue showing the leadership he demonstrated last season.

Covington scored 11 points in the period, going 3-for-5 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the free throw line.

Though Nansemond River won the quarter, Young was frustrated that his team was still down 36-35 at halftime and with the implications it had on the game’s outcome.

“At the end of the second quarter, we gave up a layup at the buzzer, and we lost the game by two points,” he said.

The Warriors pulled ahead in the third quarter, going up 45-40 at its midpoint, but Deep Creek closed the period on a 6-0 run to take a 56-52 lead going into the fourth.

Again, Covington was helping keep his team in the game, scoring 11 points in the third.

The fourth quarter was back and forth, but with two minutes and four seconds remaining, Nansemond River gave up an uncontested layup to Deep Creek’s Shawn Evans, who finished with 25 points.

The layup put the Hornets back up, 67-65, and “they did not relinquish the lead,” Young said.

Despite the loss, Covington finished with 36 points, going 12-for-18 from the field and 11-for-12 at the line. He also had five rebounds, five steals and four assists.

“That’s back-to-back 36-point games, and his shooting percentage in both games is over 50 percent,” Young said.

In Nansemond River’s 77-67 victory over host Ocean Lakes High School on Wednesday, Covington had 36 points by going 9-for-15 from the field and 18-for-20 at the line.

The previous day, he put up 25 points in the Warriors’ 60-55 season-opening road loss to Oscar Smith High School.

Some key help against Deep Creek came from senior guard Torrence Williams, who finished with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-8 from the three-point line.

Sophomore center Resean White added six points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Nansemond River (1-2) visits Hickory High School on Tuesday and Indian River High School on Thursday before hosting Western Branch High School on Friday.