Before enjoying Christmas and playing in holiday showcases, the boys’ basketball teams from King’s Fork and Nansemond River high schools took each other on while raising money and awareness for an important cause on Friday.

The Bulldogs pulled away in the last two minutes of the game to defeat the visiting Warriors 60-55.

And by the end of the night, more than $300 and at least 10 pairs of shoes had been collected for Samaritan’s Feet, an organization that aims to help children around the world in a specific way.

“Samaritan’s Feet shares hope with children in the U.S. and around the world by washing their feet, giving them a new pair of shoes, and helping them believe that their dreams can come true,” the organization’s website states.

The website cites statistics that indicate more than 2.2 billion people living in poverty cannot afford shoes, among many other things.

The organization focuses on providing shoes because, as its website states, “we at Samaritan’s Feet believe that a new pair of shoes can be a tangible foundation of hope to a person in need.”

King’s Fork’s Josh Worrell and Nansemond River’s Ed Young coached barefoot on Friday to help raise awareness.

The Bulldogs improved to 5-2 with the win, but played unevenly on the night.

“We’ve got to have consistent progress,” Worrell said. “We see progress in pieces, it’s just not consistent. They showed me a little resiliency.”

He noted his team came out in the first quarter ready to play, using it to gain a 14-4 lead.

“(We) really did what we needed to do defensively in eliminating opportunities for them,” Worrell said.

Young said, “We started out in a hole. Our defense wasn’t that bad, it’s just that we couldn’t get any scoring.”

Meanwhile, King’s Fork sophomore guard James Hatton scored half of his team’s points in the period.

The Warriors won the second quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 19-15. NR was aided significantly by senior guard Torrence Williams, who contributed nine points during the stretch.

The period was also a bad one for the Bulldogs because junior center Raemaad Wright rolled his ankle and did not return.

Young said his team had been game-planning to limit sophomore guard Rontre Pope and Wright, and Worrell noted his team had to play differently without Wright.

However, it did not play the way Worrell and his staff wanted in the third quarter when its 29-23 halftime lead became a 45-38 deficit going into the fourth.

Williams contributed 11 points to the turnaround.

But in the final period, Nansemond River’s offense was not clicking, and “we got lost on our defensive assignments,” Young said.

Hatton, who had been quiet in the second and third quarters, scored eight points, giving him 17 for the game. Pope finished with 14 points and six boards.

“We did a good job on their two main guys, but we let Hatton have a career night,” Young said.

Worrell said the Bulldogs got good contributions from senior forward Terry Tubbs, junior forward Ricky McCleod and freshman guard Leontre Bailey.

King’s Fork came in prepped for Warriors senior guard Josh Covington, who has been averaging nearly 30 points a game, but he was out with concussion symptoms and has been for the last two games.

Torrence Williams finished Friday with a career-high 24 points.

King’s Fork returns to the hardwood for the L.C. Bird Holiday Showcase on Dec. 28-29 at L.C. Bird High School. The Bulldogs will play John Marshall High School the first day and Stonewall Jackson High School the second day.

Nansemond River (3-5) will face First Colonial High School on Monday at 3 p.m. in the Norfolk Scope Holiday Classic.