KF second, NR fourth in tourney
Published 8:31 pm Tuesday, January 3, 2017
- James Hatton lays the ball up for the Bulldogs in a recent game. King’s Fork placed second in the King’s Fork Holiday Tournament last week. Hatton and his Bulldog teammate Omar Skinner made the All-Tournament team. Caroline LaMagna photo
The King’s Fork and Nansemond River high school boys’ basketball teams placed second and fourth, respectively, in the King’s Fork Holiday Tournament.
King’s Fork hosted four teams for the tournament last Thursday and Friday. Representing Suffolk in the tournament were Nansemond River and King’s Fork high schools.
Nansemond River lost its first game by six to the eventual tournament winner, Richmond’s Armstrong High School. The next day they lost to Grafton High School in an unsuccessful contest for third place. Assistant coach Craig Frost coached both games due to head coach Ed Young’s illness.
“We didn’t play as well as I thought we would,” Frost said of his team’s effort in the third-place game. “As a young team, we didn’t quite play with the same energy and focus we played with the night before.”
Frost said the team’s confidence remains high, despite having only one win so far in the 2016-2017 season. Most of the Warriors’ games have been very close, and they believe those close losses will turn into wins soon.
The Bulldogs won their first matchup, against Grafton, by 20 points. Armstrong and King’s Fork met each other in the championship game, with Armstrong earning the victory by seven. The loss was the Bulldogs’ third for the year at that time.
Bulldogs head coach Josh Worrell said after the Grafton win that he liked how the team had been competing and feels it can take some momentum into the new year.
Both Suffolk schools had players named to the All-Tournament team. Pheldarius Payne represented Nansemond River on the All-Tournament team, and James Hatton and Omar Skinner were the Bulldogs’ representatives.