Crabbers end NR’s season
Published 10:14 pm Thursday, February 18, 2016
No. 2 Hampton High School’s boys’ basketball team sent No. 7 Nansemond River High School into the offseason with a 67-37 defeat in Wednesday’s PenSouth Conference quarterfinals at Menchville High School.
“I guess the word that defines us this year is ‘frustration,’” Warriors coach Ed Young said after his team had concluded its second consecutive losing season, the second sub-.500 year in school history.
In terms of frustration, “we showed it so much, individually and as a team,” he said. “We were so close in games. Case in point — this game.”
Nansemond River was down 17-9 coming out of the first quarter after going 1-for-7 on field goals.
Marquise Godwin of the Crabbers scored 11 points in the period, “and this time our defense was geared to stop him, but we had kids out of position,” Young said.
The Warriors made an adjustment in the second quarter, during which “he didn’t score at all,” Young said. “He barely touched the ball.”
Nansemond River won the quarter 11-8, benefiting from two three-pointers by senior guard Torrence Williams. He scored eight of his 11 points in the second period.
The Crabbers led 25-20 at halftime, thanks in part to their rebounding edge.
“We were getting killed on the boards,” Young said. “They outrebounded us in the first half 17-8.”
The Warriors had committed only five turnovers at that point, but they were shooting poorly, going 6-for-21 from the floor.
Their poor shooting continued in the third quarter as they went 2-for-9 from the field. Hampton won the period 14-10, growing its lead back to nine.
Young was pleased that NR’s defense held Godwin scoreless for another quarter, but it was during the third that PenSouth Conference Player of the Year Jaylen Ray came alive for 11 points. He had only scored two in the first half.
The Crabbers led 39-30 at the end of the third period.
“The fourth quarter was pretty much a disaster for us,” Young said. “The dam broke.”
The Warriors twice got within three points early in the period, but Hampton went on to score 28 points in the final quarter, benefiting from 10 Nansemond River turnovers.
Godwin finished with 20 points and Ray ended up with 19.
For the Warriors, senior Josh Covington led the way with 15 points, adding three rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“We were so bad on the boards, he led us with rebounding,” Young said of Covington, a 5-foot 11-inch guard.
The Crabbers outrebounded Nansemond River 38-16 for the game.
The Warriors finished the season with a record of 9-13, but Young noted his team was not as bad as the record indicates, and he is optimistic about the future.
“I’m encouraged for next year,” he said. “We have eight returnees,” and quite a few more will be moving up from a No. 1-ranked junior varsity team that went 19-1 this season. “We’ll put a better product on the floor next year.”