3 Kecoughtan Edges 1 Hampton
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"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Tuesday night marked one of the biggest regular season
Group AAA basketball games to date in this 2012-13 campaign.
style=> It was a re-match of last year's Eastern
Region Championship game between Peninsula District powers, the Hampton
Crabbers and the Kecoughtan Warriors.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Hampton entered ranked #1 in the state, while
class=SpellE>Kecoughtan came in ranked #3 overall, fresh off an impressive
16-point triumph over L.C. Bird in Saturday's Fifth Annual VirginiaPreps.com Classic
at Virginia Wesleyan College.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>In front of their home fans and a sellout crowd that
lined up hours before the game to get in, Kecoughtan
ended a three-game losing streak to the Crabbers with a 54-49 victory that gave
the Warriors sole possession of first place in the typically rugged Peninsula
District.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It's always a competition, and every year we've been
in a battle with Hampton, Bethel or Phoebus," commented Kecoughtan
Head Basketball Coach Ivan Thomas.
style=> "This year it's Hampton we're battling with,
and they're the defending State Champion.
It was a good win for our team tonight."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Besides the outstanding play of star guard
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Anthony 'Cat' Barber, the State Player
of the Year as a junior for Hampton who'll play his College Basketball at NC
State, the Crabbers thrived last season in tight games largely because of the
performance of their role players. In
their first meeting with Kecoughtan, the Warriors'
supporting cast around standouts Rajay Bullock
(Providence signee) and Greg Alexander (East
Carolina signee) flourished.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>While Bullock had 10 points and six boards and
Alexander scored a team-high 15 points, shooting 75% from the field, the
class=GramE>trio of 6-foot-6 senior Kaelin Poe,
sophomore point guard Marcell
class=SpellE>Haskett and senior reserve Lawrence Williams delivered greatly.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We've been doing this since last year and most of us
have been here before," pointed out Poe, one of nine seniors on the Warriors'
roster. "We added Lawrence and he's been
a great player for us, stepped in and provides a great spark for us offensively
and defensively."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>With the of Hampton's attention on Bullock, who scored
a VaPreps Classic record 31 points on Saturday and
entered averaging over 22 points per game, the Warriors understood it would
take others to take some of the scoring load off the shoulders of their go-to
guy in the front-court in order to beat the Crabbers.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We know with the type of season Rajay's
having that teams are going to focus on him.
After the VirginiaPreps Tournament where
class=SpellE>Rajay had an outstanding night, their whole team was there
scouting, the coaches were scouting, so we knew they were going to come in with
the idea of trying to stop Rajay," Thomas noted.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I told Rajay immediately in
practice they're not going to let you get the ball and have the game you had
the other night, where the entire Hampton team was there watching you.
style=> I thought the other guys performed, and that
was the key in practice."
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Kecoughtan
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>,
which moved to 10-2 overall and 8-0 in the PD, had plenty of motivation coming
into the matchup. Not only were the Crabbers
ranked #1 in the state, they also were the team that kept the Warriors from
winning Peninsula District and Eastern Region titles a season ago.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It definitely affected us.
style=> We were anxious to get back at them,"
class=SpellE>Haskett admitted. "Coach
always preaches about doing a job, so we wanted to step up to the plate, do our
roles and by doing that we came out with the W."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>As significant as the role players' production was the
timeliness of the plays they made. Poe
put up 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field to go with six
rebounds. His put-back with 1:39 remaining
gave Kecoughtan a 50-47 lead and didn't allow the
Crabbers to have the ball and a shot at going ahead in the closing moments of
the fourth period.
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Haskett
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>,
asked to guard Barber practically the entire night, held the guy they call Cat
to 23. That seems like lot, but given
how routine Barber has made it to take over games and fourth quarters, the
Warriors could live with those numbers as Haskett
chipped in nine points and three assists himself.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"He's a great guard and one of the top guards in the
country. It wasn't easy, but I had to
pull it together, stay with him and give it my all during crunch time because
Coach needs me to play my best and stick with him to the best of my ability,"
class=SpellE>Haskett stated.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Come fourth quarter, you can't turn the ball over and
you've got to put the ball in the hole, and we made sure we didn't have as many
turnovers in the fourth quarter and made sure we defended."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>In the fourth quarter, Kecoughtan
turned the ball over only three times, a far lower number than in their two
losses earlier this season to Oak Hill Academy and Cape Henry, where they led
by seven in the game's final stanza before succumbing.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>And then there was Williams, known more for his work on
the football field, yet put up nine points and four rebounds coming off the
pine. His three-point play to conclude
the third quarter gave the Warriors a much-needed 41-36 cushion.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We were mentally prepared for this one," Williams added.
style=> "Knowing this was a big game I couldn't melt
down and had to be ready."
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Kecoughtan
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
fell behind by a count of 10-1 in the opening minutes.
style=> The Warriors fought back to tie the score at
23-apiece going to half-time with Alexander and Bullock combining for 13
points. When Barber keyed a Hampton run
to put the Crabbers up 33-30, Kecoughtan answered
with an 11-3 spurt, turning the ball over only once in the entire third
quarter.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>While Hampton (10-2; 8-1) is no longer in first place
in the PD, they will get another crack at Kecoughtan
on February 5th in the Crabbers' gym.
And if things go like last year, there may be a couple of postseason
meetings to follow.
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
class=SpellE>Kecoughtan Head Coach Ivan Thomas
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Stats:
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Kecoughtan
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> 54:
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Greg Alexander - - 15Pts. 6-8FG, 2-4FT, 3Reb.
Kaelin Poe
- - 11Pts. 4-5FG, 3-5FT, 6Reb.
Rajay
Bullock - - 10Pts. 1-5FG, 8-11FT, 6Reb. 2Blk.
Marcell Haskett - - 9Pts.
3-9FG, 3-4FT, 3Reb. 3Ast.
Lawrence Williams - - 9Pts. 4-9FG, 4Reb.
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Hampton
49:
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Anthony 'Cat' Barber - - 23Pts. 9-20FG, 2-8 3's, 3-5FT, 3Reb. 2Ast
class=GramE>.
Sammie Royal - - 10Pts. 5-12FG, 8Reb. 2Ast.
Jordan Baker - - 6Pts. 2-6FG, 7Reb. 5Ast.
Tre Perry - - 6Pts. 2-3FG, 1-2FT, 2Reb. (Fouled Out)
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>Matthew Hatfield
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>
serves as State Basketball Analyst for
href="http://www.virginiapreps.com">
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>VirginiaPreps.com
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>, part of the Rivals.com
Network. Check out
href="http://www.twitter.com/hatfieldsports">
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>Hatfield's Twitter page
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> for more sports related info and
updates. To contact Matthew, please
e-mail
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com,
and don't forget to listen to High School Sports Talk every Saturday from 10AM
to Noon on
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>ESPN Radio 94.1
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>
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