BOYS’ BASKETBALL KERR-VANCE 75, HALIWA-SAPONI 54
The Kerr-Vance Academy boys’ basketball team cruised past the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School with ease Thursday night, improving their record to 1-1 on the young season.
The Spartans started out slow, only leading by two points at the end of the first quarter.
Whatever Spartans’ head coach Taron Downey said in between quarters must have worked, as the Spartans outscored their visitors 26-13 in the second quarter to take a 40-25 lead into the break.
“I felt like we had a better effort on Tuesday,” Downey said. “We came out and played flat. We can’t do that against really good teams. But a win is a win, and it feels good to get the first victory of the season.”
Haliwa-Saponi scrapped its way back into the game in the third quarter, cutting the Spartans’ lead to 56-44. But the Spartans responded once again, outscoring Haliwa-Saponi 19-10 in the fourth quarter to claim a 75-54 victory.
Spar tans’ guard Wil Short led all scorers with 19 points in what proved to be a fairly balanced attack for the home team. Michael Bowers added 17, while Colby Wilkerson came off the bench to score 16. Jabe Montgomery (10 points), John Averette (8 points) and Austin Matitngly (5 points) rounded out the scoring for Kerr-Vance.
Downey highlighted the play of John Averette after the game.
“I think John Averette played his heart out,” Downey said. “He uses everything he has. If I could get everyone to play like that, we would be so much better. And Beau Nutter played well tonight, especially on the boards and on defense. We had good balanced scoring tonight, which I like, but we’ve got to play better on both sides of the floor.”
The Spartans hosted 1A Carolina Independent Conference rival Oakwood Friday evening and travel to face Oxford Prep in a nonconference matchup Monday night.
The Kerr-Vance Academy boys’ basketball team cruised past the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School with ease Thursday night, improving their record to 1-1 on the young season.
The Spartans started out slow, only leading by two points at the end of the first quarter.
Whatever Spartans’ head coach Taron Downey said in between quarters must have worked, as the Spartans outscored their visitors 26-13 in the second quarter to take a 40-25 lead into the break.
“I felt like we had a better effort on Tuesday,” Downey said. “We came out and played flat. We can’t do that against really good teams. But a win is a win, and it feels good to get the first victory of the season.”
Haliwa-Saponi scrapped its way back into the game in the third quarter, cutting the Spartans’ lead to 56-44. But the Spartans responded once again, outscoring Haliwa-Saponi 19-10 in the fourth quarter to claim a 75-54 victory.
Spar tans’ guard Wil Short led all scorers with 19 points in what proved to be a fairly balanced attack for the home team. Michael Bowers added 17, while Colby Wilkerson came off the bench to score 16. Jabe Montgomery (10 points), John Averette (8 points) and Austin Matitngly (5 points) rounded out the scoring for Kerr-Vance.
Downey highlighted the play of John Averette after the game.
“I think John Averette played his heart out,” Downey said. “He uses everything he has. If I could get everyone to play like that, we would be so much better. And Beau Nutter played well tonight, especially on the boards and on defense. We had good balanced scoring tonight, which I like, but we’ve got to play better on both sides of the floor.”
The Spartans hosted 1A Carolina Independent Conference rival Oakwood Friday evening and travel to face Oxford Prep in a nonconference matchup Monday night.
