The Nansemond River High School boys’ basketball team appeared to get exactly the win it needed Friday night to bring its season back to life.

After starting the year 13-0, with clear state championship potential, the Warriors had gone 2-3 since, falling two games behind Heritage High School for first place in the conference. King’s Fork High School helped the Warriors by beating Heritage on Tuesday.

But on Friday, the Bulldogs, tied for second with Nansemond River, actually seemed poised to continue the Warriors’ recession. KF sophomore Deshaun Wethington cut through their defense in the first half at will, and the Bulldogs led for most of the game and held their hosts to four second-quarter points.

But in the second half, the Warriors rediscovered their magic from the front half of the season and brought the home crowd to its feet with a 59-52 comeback victory.

“I think this was our statement that we’re back on a hot streak, and we want first,” said Nansemond River senior Daniel Wallace, who scored 12 of his game-high 16 points in the second half to go with 10 rebounds.

Warriors senior Devon Oakley addressed the stakes of the game.

“We needed a win so we could take first place again,” he said after scoring 11 of his 12 points in the second half and grabbing six boards and four steals. “We couldn’t afford to lose.”

Outside the conditions of the conference standings, Nansemond River assistant coach Paul Hall said, “It was a big win for the simple fact that it was a confidence booster.”

After a loss to Christchurch School and consecutive losses to conference opponents in Heritage and Lakeland High School, Paul said Nansemond River’s players “started to not believe” in the team’s ability.

The Warriors had a 17-12 lead in the first quarter, but then the Bulldogs went on a 21-4 run spanning the rest of the half, to lead 33-21 at halftime.

Hall said Nansemond River got into the bad habit of simply taking jump shots.

At halftime, “We stressed getting the ball inside,” he said.

Following through on this accounted for Wallace’s points, as well as those from several other players like Oakley, junior Scott Spencer, senior Adrian Coleman and senior Jalen Warren.

Hall also said King’s Fork was way too comfortable in the first half, and the Warriors fixed that in the second.

“I just think they committed themselves to playing defense,” Hall said. “We had a concerted effort to contain Wethington and make other guys beat us.”

Wethington scored 12 points for the game, but only two in the second half, both coming at the foul line.

Oakley knew what his team’s first-half problem was.

“We just weren’t playing hard, plain and simple,” he said.

Hall said the team was exhorted at the half to play “with more heart, play with more effort.”

He said, “They just believed in what we were doing.”

Spencer ended up with 13 points and four boards and Warren had seven assists and four steals.

Bulldogs head coach Josh Worrell readily identified why his team could not hold onto its lead and close out the game.

“We just didn’t finish the game with poise,” he said.

Sophomore Keith Stagg led King’s Fork with 14 points, junior Dale Roscoe had nine points, all in the first half, and junior Justin Chicot chipped in eight.

King’s Fork (11-8, 4-3) concludes a challenging trio of games against the Ironclad Conference’s top teams with a road trip for a re-match against Heritage on Monday. The same day, Nansemond River (16-3, 5-2) hosts Phoebus High School on senior night.