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The Nansemond River boys knew Friday’s matchup against the Oscar Smith Tigers would be tough, but the Warriors never wavered. Unfortunately, they came up on the short end of the 62-51 contest.

Oscar Smith bulldozed their way to a 20-9 first-quarter advantage. Several key blocks by Warrior junior George Porter helped fuel a 17-point second quarter. A put-back dunk by senior Haven Nicholas gave the team a spark headed into the half down 33-26.

The spark was still hot coming out of the locker room, where the Warriors cut the lead to one at the end of the third period. Some unforced errors and a technical foul call on Izzy Lewis stalled any chance for a comeback upset of the top-ranked team in VHSL Class 6. Although the Warriors had energy, they did not get inside the paint on offense much and only shot three foul shots the entire night.

After the game, head coach Ed Young said they strayed from what was working and helped the Tigers rebuild the lead.

“[We] came out in the third quarter with good fire, as good as any third quarter all year we played, got within one,” he said. “Then what happened? We got away from what was working. We have a pension if we’re hitting threes, we’re just gonna keep shooting threes. If driving is working, we’re just going to keep driving.”

Senior Haven Nichols led all Warrior scorers with 16 points, and junior Christian Jordan dropped 13 off the bench.

Young said his team can learn from this loss by understanding they will face teams with similar energy and physicality down the stretch.