Suffolk News-Herald

Lakeland, King’s Fork, and Nansemond River went 0-for-3 versus some of the toughest high school basketball competition in the state on Saturday during the Suffolk Roundball Classic at King’s Fork.

In the opening game of the afternoon, T. C. Williams High of Alexandria pulled away late against Lakeland to claim a 73-54 victory.

The Titans’ full court trapping defense put too much pressure on the Cavaliers, who committed 34 turnovers and shot just 35 percent from the floor (22-of-62).

Despite the offensive struggles, Lakeland was within eight at the half and pulled even closer at 40-35 midway through the third quarter.

A big run by the Titans to close out the third period built their lead back to 53-39 going to the last quarter, and that margin was too much for Lakeland to overcome.

Corey Davis led the Cavaliers with 11 points and five blocked shots.

Tyrone Parker chipped in with eight points.

&uot;We had to play two straight days.

We had no legs and no emotion, and against a good team you can’t do that,&uot; said Lakeland head coach James Jones, &uot;but that’s no excuse because we have games coming up on Monday and Tuesday.&uot;

Those two games are district games first at Western Branch and then back home versus Hickory on Tuesday evening.

The host school took on Richmond’s Highland Springs in the second game of the triple-header.

Unfortunately for King’s Fork, they ran into a red-hot offensive show by the Springers’ Kenny Thomas, who put up 34 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Springers to an 89-37 win.

Thomas was successful from all over the floor, making five three-pointers and going 9-for-10 from the line.

The Bulldogs used an early 9-2 run in the first quarter to stay within reach early.

A three-pointer from Deon Gaines and a hook shot in the lane by Loren Farris made the score 13-11 Springers with about 1:30 left in the quarter.

From there Highland Springs would pull away to 19-13 at the end of the quarter, and then to 45-19 by halftime.

The Bulldogs were paced by Farris’s 10 points.

Trevino Rodgers piled up 12 rebounds and Eric Silver tallied nine points and six rebounds.

Jeff Gilmet led the Bulldogs in assists with six.

King’s Fork coach Joshua Worrell was pleased with his team’s effort on the night, &uot;I’m proud of the way the kids came out and played and didn’t back down against such a good team. We attacked the basket well and played good team defense.

We fought hard on the boards.&uot;

The Bulldogs also look forward to back-to-back district games; Monday at home against Great Bridge and then at Deep Creek on Tuesday.

Potomac High School from Dumfries finished off the sweep of Suffolk in the final game of the Classic with a very effective 74-47 victory over Nansemond River.

The Panthers shot 47 percent from the field (27-of-57), 40 percent from three point range (8-for-20), and 92 percent from the free throw line (12-of-13) to earn the victory.

The Warriors found themselves down 20-8 just five minutes into the game and were never able to make a serious run at the Panthers.

Potomac was sparked early on by Eric Hays who scored 19 of his game-high 26 points in the first half as the Panthers stretched their lead to 41-21 by the half.

River cut the lead to 13 a couple times late in the third period as they shot 5-for-7 from the floor as a team in the third quarter, but Potomac’s consistent shooting and control of the clock would not let the Warriors get any closer.

The Warriors were led on the night by Keith Josey’s double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Andre Jones also contributed 13 points and five boards.

River played Indian River on Monday. None of Monday’s games were completed at press time.