BULLDOGS SEASON OVER
King’s Fork’s first trip to the state Group AAA tournament was short-lived as the Bulldogs, in only their fourth year of existence, lost to T.C. Williams 59-39 Saturday in a quarterfinal game at Robinson Secondary in Fairfax.
The Bulldogs were only down 26-24 at the half but T.C. Williams used a 14-2 run to begin the third quarter to blow the game open.
The Bulldogs made just two field goals in the second half.
Jaquon Parker, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer in the postseason, scored only six points in the second half. That’s much lower than his 19-point average in the playoffs.
Teammate Jamar Wertz, the team’s second-leading scorer, didn’t fare any better. He came in averaging 17 points but was held to nine points overall and just four points in the second half.
“We had our chances,” said King’s Fork coach Josh Worrell. “We just couldn’t get the ball to fall into the tonight.”
Added T.C. Williams coach Ivan Thomas:
“We didn’t talk about offense a lot this week at practice,” he said. “All we talked about was defense.”
It was the just second time this season that Parker and Wertz didn’t score in double figures this season. Parker scored a season-low eight points against Deep Creek in the region tournament. Wertz had nine points against Nansemond River during the regular season.
BRIGHT SIDE
King’s Fork sophomore center Jay Copeland played perhaps his best game of the season.
He finished with a team-high 15 points. He also had nine rebounds.
But it wasn’t his season high. Copeland scored 16 points against Hickory and had a career-high 18 points against Nansemond River.
GOOD NEWS
As tough as the loss was, there is hope for next season as King’s Fork returns all of its top players, including Jaquon Parker and Jamar Wertz.
The only player the Bulldogs lose is senior reserve Yussef Ola.
You can bet King’s Fork will come back next season hungry and with something to prove.
DELAY
The King’s Fork-T.C. Williams game was delayed by nearly two hours because of a power outage.
But Worrell said that didn’t have any affect on his team.
“I don’t think it hurt us in the long run,” he said.
Still, it had to difficult for the players and coaches to wait.
NO HELP
T.C. Williams coach Ivan Thomas isn’t a stranger to South Hampton Roads basketball. He played at Norview High School under then Pilots coach Ed Young, who is now at Nansemond River.
Thomas said he spoke to Young this week on Young's radio show.
“He told me he always knew I’d go into coaching,” Thomas said. “He told me he couldn’t give me a scouting report on (King's Fork) but I understood.”
ALL-TIDEWATER
Now that the boys basketball season is over, it’s time to focus on postseason honors.
South Hampton Roads has many great players who are worthy to make All-Tidewater but only 10 make it.
There are many public school athletes to choose from, including Corey Law (Deep Creek), Kendrix Brown (Norview) and Marcus Davis (Ocean Lakes). All three players were chosen Player of the Year of their district.
You also have to look at players from the winning district regular-season and tournament title teams.
And don’t forget the private schools players as Ryan Barbosa (StoneBridge), Isaac Ballou (Nansemond-Suffolk), Donte Hill (Norfolk Collegiate), Keith Wright (Norfolk Collegiate), Steven Pledger (Atlantic Shores), Andre Dawkins (Atlantic Shores), Damiane Ryans (Cape Henry), Darrian Freeman (Cape Henry), Terrell Allen (Cape Henry) and James McAdoo (Norfolk Christian) all deserve consideration.
So who would you choose? Again, you can only choose 10 players.