It’s going to be an all-Suffolk showdown in Friday’s Southeastern District tournament championship as top-seeded Nansemond River meets No. 3 seed King’s Fork. The Warriors, who have won three of the last four tournament titles, advanced to the finals with a 94-60 victory over Oscar Smith Wednesday night in one semifinal while King’s Fork upended No. 2 seed Deep Creek 86-68 in the other. “We can’t relax because King’s Fork is going to give us all they can,” said Warriors coach Ed Young. “Plus, it’s on their court. And even though we beat them twice this season, both games were close.”
King’s Fork (20-4) advanced by beating Deep Creek for the second time in two weeks. The Bulldogs rode the scoring of Jaquon Parker and Jamar Wertz. Parker finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, while Wertz had 26 points and 10 rebounds.
A loss to Deep Creek would have meant the Bulldogs would probably play a tough Peninsula-District opponent in the first round of next week’s Eastern Region tournament.
“So we knew coming in that the better we performed in the district tournament, the lower seed we’ll get from the Peninsula District,” said Parker. “We took heed to that and now we’re trying to win the district tournament.”
Leading by seven at the half, the Bulldogs took advantage of Parker’s hot shooting and the Hornets’ streaky play. Deep Creek made just 1 of 6 field goals and committed three turnovers in the first four minutes of the second half, enabling the Bulldogs to push their lead to 18. The Hornets never recovered.
“They played very tough and outplayed us,” said Hornets coach Leroy Ricks.
It was only three weeks ago that Deep Creek was the top-ranked team in South Hampton Roads. But the Hornets have now lost three of their last four games.
Corey Law and Chris Evans led the Hornets with 24 and 22 points, respectively.
King’s Fork, on the other hand, is getting hot at the right time.
“Last year we peaked too early,” said Bulldogs coach Josh Worrell, whose team has won 11 of its last 12 games. “But this year everybody understands their role and they’re not trying to be the superstar. That’s the difference.”
Nansemond River (22-2) won its 12th consecutive game by jumping out to a 13-4 lead in the first quarter. But Oscar Smith battled back to go ahead 26-25 midway through the second quarter. The Warriors then used a 9-0 run before the half to break the game open.
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Warriors center Nick Wright recorded his third triple-double of the season with 21 points, 17 rebound and 11 blocks. Nansemond River also got 25 points apiece from Andre Jones and Quinton McDuffie.
Going into Wednesday’s game, Young said he was a little concerned about Oscar Smith (13-9) after the Tigers scored 100 points against Lakeland in Monday’s quarterfinals.
“I thought that was a message for us,” he said. “I knew they wanted something to play for.”
Eventually the Warriors’ defense simply wore down the Tigers. Brandon Britt scored 12 points to lead Oscar Smith.
The Tigers will play Peninsula No. 1 seed Bethel, the third-ranked team in Group AAA, on Monday in the first round of the Eastern Region tournament.
See a Photo Gallery of the semifinals.
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