KVA men earn season-opening victory over St. Thomas More
By Brandon White bwhite@hendersondispatch.com; 252-436-2840
HENDERSON — Kerr-Vance Academy men’s basketball team showcased both its inexperience and energy in its first game of the season against St. Thomas More Academy on Wednesday evening.
Despite making a handful of mistakes in the first half, the Spartans knocked down several key shots in the closing minutes to pull away with a 56-47 victory in head coach Derrick Bond’s first game with the program.
Bond joined the KVA men’s basketball program shortly before the start of the season and anticipated some growing pains in the opening weeks, but said that he was proud of the intensity his team showed in their first outing together.
“We wanted to come out with an intense effort,” Bond said. “I’ve only been with these guys for about two weeks, but we wanted to leave it all on the court [Wednesday]. We can live with a few bad mistakes because at the end of the night, we played hard and that gave us a chance at the win.”
Bond could tell the lack of time together and general uncertainty were hindering the Spartans from the opening tip-off, which is why he elected to call his first timeout just a few seconds into the game even though KVA led 3-2.
He spent two more timeouts before the first quarter reached the halfway point. While the strategy was unorthodox, Bond felt the timeouts were necessary to help his team’s mental discipline in the final three quarters.
“When you see something wrong in the beginning, you want to go ahead and correct those actions,” Bond said. “That can be the difference between you being down by 10 or up by 5. There were some mistakes early on and the guys weren’t clicking, so we wanted to get them in a relaxed mind and that they were in the right spots.”
Bond credited senior point guard Joseph Knott for leading the offense and draining several key shots in the second half. He added that Knott’s versatility and natural leadership skills are going to make him a valuable part of the team as it logs more practices and games.
With Knott and the rest of the seniors on the team, Bond believes accountability has already become a focal point of the culture he is trying to establish at KVA and said the comradery his players showed on Wednesday has him optimistic about how the rest of the 2021-22 season will turn out.
There are still a few things Bond wants to see his players improve upon over the next several weeks but he is excited about the KVA team’s potential.
“I’d like to see more layups being made,” Bond said. “We left a lot of layups out there, so we need to convert those opportunities. The shots started to fall late in the game because the guys kept on believing and I know they’re going to make layups because they work on them every day.”
After facing Cresset Christian Academy on the road Friday evening, KVA will travel to Belhaven on Tuesday for a meeting with Pungo Christian Academy.
Contact Brandon White at bwhite@hendersondispatch.com or by phone at 252-436-2840
By Brandon White bwhite@hendersondispatch.com; 252-436-2840
HENDERSON — Kerr-Vance Academy men’s basketball team showcased both its inexperience and energy in its first game of the season against St. Thomas More Academy on Wednesday evening.
Despite making a handful of mistakes in the first half, the Spartans knocked down several key shots in the closing minutes to pull away with a 56-47 victory in head coach Derrick Bond’s first game with the program.
Bond joined the KVA men’s basketball program shortly before the start of the season and anticipated some growing pains in the opening weeks, but said that he was proud of the intensity his team showed in their first outing together.
“We wanted to come out with an intense effort,” Bond said. “I’ve only been with these guys for about two weeks, but we wanted to leave it all on the court [Wednesday]. We can live with a few bad mistakes because at the end of the night, we played hard and that gave us a chance at the win.”
Bond could tell the lack of time together and general uncertainty were hindering the Spartans from the opening tip-off, which is why he elected to call his first timeout just a few seconds into the game even though KVA led 3-2.
He spent two more timeouts before the first quarter reached the halfway point. While the strategy was unorthodox, Bond felt the timeouts were necessary to help his team’s mental discipline in the final three quarters.
“When you see something wrong in the beginning, you want to go ahead and correct those actions,” Bond said. “That can be the difference between you being down by 10 or up by 5. There were some mistakes early on and the guys weren’t clicking, so we wanted to get them in a relaxed mind and that they were in the right spots.”
Bond credited senior point guard Joseph Knott for leading the offense and draining several key shots in the second half. He added that Knott’s versatility and natural leadership skills are going to make him a valuable part of the team as it logs more practices and games.
With Knott and the rest of the seniors on the team, Bond believes accountability has already become a focal point of the culture he is trying to establish at KVA and said the comradery his players showed on Wednesday has him optimistic about how the rest of the 2021-22 season will turn out.
There are still a few things Bond wants to see his players improve upon over the next several weeks but he is excited about the KVA team’s potential.
“I’d like to see more layups being made,” Bond said. “We left a lot of layups out there, so we need to convert those opportunities. The shots started to fall late in the game because the guys kept on believing and I know they’re going to make layups because they work on them every day.”
After facing Cresset Christian Academy on the road Friday evening, KVA will travel to Belhaven on Tuesday for a meeting with Pungo Christian Academy.
Contact Brandon White at bwhite@hendersondispatch.com or by phone at 252-436-2840
