FAYETTEVILLE — Another opponent faced, another victory in the books. Kinston’s boys basketball team is going to the regional finals yet again.
Brandon Ingram scored 17 points to lead a balanced Kinston attack and the Vikings ran past Bunn, 63-44, in the 2A Eastern Regional semifinals at the Crown Arena on Thursday.
Josh Dawson added 14 points and was three rebounds and an assist shy of a triple-double while Jeremy Taylor scored 12 to put the Vikings (26-2) into the regional championship for the seventh straight year.
They will face Fairmont, which rallied past Jacksonville Northside late, at 4 p.m. here on Saturday.
“We’re just so versatile. You don’t know who’s going to have a big night,” said senior Denzel Keyes, who had nine points and 11 rebounds.
“If we play together (good things happen).”
Deadlocked at 11 after the first quarter, Kinston used a 13-2 run to separate itself from a Bunn team that lived — and died — around the perimeter.
The Wildcats (23-7) got a game-high 24 points from junior guard DeShawn High — on four 3-pointers — and hit five 3s in the game’s first 12 minutes to keep it close.
But Kinston’s speed and defense were just too much.
The Vikings scored 13 of the next 15 points — six by Dawson and five from Ingram — to take a lead that never dipped below double digits again.
“Gosh, they’re a really terrific team. They can hurt you from so many spots,” said Bunn coach Gerald Melton, whose team started out hot but cooled off considerably after intermission. “We’ve been a good team all year getting back on defense but they’re just so fast and that led to a lot of easy points for them. But we played hard, and I love these kids because they played so hard and wanted it so bad.”
Bunn did its best to keep it close early, hitting three 3s in the opening quarter — two by High. But the Vikings settled down on both end of the floor and outscored the Wildcats 38-21 over the next two quarters.
Kinston led by as many as 22 after Dawson grabbed a defensive rebound at the rim, let the other nine on the floor sprint back, then took it the full length of the court for the score. On Kinston’s next possession he found Taylor for the assist and a 22-point lead.
“I’ve got great teammates. The wings, the post we have. I mean, they’re great. We started off on defense. Coach always says that defense is going to win games,” Dawson said. “We play ‘D’ as a whole. When we get stops we can get out and run our game and slow them down.
“When we play as a team we’re hard to be beat.”
Officially, Kinston outrebounded the Wildcats 35-18, shot 51 percent for the night while holding them to 37.2 and forced 11 turnovers while only committing eight itself.
Those numbers are the secret to Kinston’s success — only it’s not a secret.
“I’m really proud of these guys. They listened and did exactly what we wanted them to do,” Kinston coach Perry Tyndall said. “We’re very, very excited to move on to Saturday.
“This time of the year, you advance, (and) you’re going to play another good team. So I’m really, really proud of these guys. We’ll find out who we’re playing in a little while, get back to work tomorrow and be back here on Saturday with a chance to move on.”
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.
Bunn 11 13 9 11—44
Kinston 11 22 16 14—63
WILDCATS (23-7) — DeShawn High 24, T. Perry 6, Batchelor 6, J. Perry 3, Sanders 3, Johnson 2, Alston, Lucas, Finley, Dean.
VIKINGS (26-2) — Brandon Ingram 17, Josh Dawson 14, Jeremy Taylor 12, Keyes 9, Ham 3, Lopez 3, Hart 2, Dunn 2, Canady 1, Joyner, White, Jones, Williams.
FAIRMONT 65, JACKSONVILLE NORTHSIDE 62: The Golden Tornadoes' frantic rally in the fourth quarter propelled them to Saturday's 2A regional championship.
Fairmont (25-5) trailed by 16 heading into the final period but scored the game's final 19 points, including Kwinton Hinson's 3-pointer as time expired.
The Monarchs (25-4), which led 57-41 with 8 minutes to play, were outscored 24-5 in the final period after they outscored Fairmont 21-8 in the second quarter.
Northside led 37-19 at the break.
Jamal Parker scored 23 points to lead the Monarchs while teammate Josh Cabrera added 15 points and eight rebounds and Kris Curry 10 points and nine rebounds.
Hinson led the Tornadoes with 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting. Teammate Shemar Barfield added 15 points.