Boys hoops: Nansemond River keeps title hope alive

SUFFOLK

Great Bridge may go on to win the Southeastern District regular-season title. But the Wildcats weren't going to clinch it on Nansemond River's home floor Tuesday night

Warriors head coach Ed Young made sure of it. He did research leading up to the game and found that no visiting team had won a district title on Nansemond River's home court.

"And I told them, 'If you want to be the first team to give it to them, then that's on you,'" he said. "'If you do then you're going to sit and watch them celebrate after the game on this floor.' And that kind of fired them up."

The seventh-ranked Warriors responded with a come-from-behind victory to upset No. 2 Great Bridge 66-52. Nansemond River (15-3, 12-3 Southeastern) outscored the Wildcats 23-8 in the fourth quarter. The Warriors now trail Great Bridge (15-3, 13-2) by one game with three to play.

Nansemond River trailed 44-43 at the end of the third quarter when Great Bridge senior Taj Owens and Nansemond River's Daniel Wallace got into it. It ended with Owens slapping Wallace and both players were ejected.

The Warriors got fired up after the incident.

"Nobody is going to disrespect us on our floor," said guard Dontrell Brite, who finished with 14 points, seven assists and six steals. "And after that we got a lot of intensity and took it to them."

Nansemond River went on a 14-2 run to start the fourth quarter and never looked back. Great Bridge, playing without its leading scorer, missed its first 13 field-goal attempts of the quarter.

"We're disappointed that we lost our composure," said Great Bridge coach Gary Obenour, who was hoping the Wildcats would clinch their first regular-season title since 2000. "And when you lose your composure in an away game it rolls into mistakes. We'll learn from it and we'll be a better team for it."

Not even guard Marcus Evans could help Great Bridge. He scored a team-high 17 points, but was 0 for 5 from the field in the fourth quarter.

Nansemond River got a lift from Shannon Evans, who scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half. The Warriors also got help from forward Kendric Washington who had nine points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

Larry Rubama, 757-446-2273, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com