With a huge helping hand from senior forward Denzel Keyes, redemption came much easier than expected for the Kinston Vikings Friday night.
Keyes scored 29 points, grabbed nine rebounds, collected nine steals, and added three assists as the Vikings rebounded from consecutive losses in the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational with an impressive 73-31 dismantling of a Farmville Central squad that had lost just once in 11 games this season.
“We needed to come out and make a statement and stop the losing streak,” Keyes said. “We knew we were a better team than we showed in Raleigh.”
The Vikings (10-2, 3-0 Eastern Plains 2A) were definitely the better team on this night although it took them a little while to show it.
After going scoreless for the final 9:47 of their final tournament loss to Waxhaw Cuthbertson, Kinston failed to register a point against the Jaguars (10-2, 1-1) until the 4:46 mark of the first period, a total span of 13:01 over the two games.
Fortunately for Kinston, its stifling defense kept Farmville at bay and by the time Keyes canned his team’s first bucket, the Vikings only trailed by two.
“It really didn’t occur to me that we had a little drought at the start of the game,” Kinston coach Perry Tyndall said. “What happened in Raleigh at the end of the Cuthbertson game was pretty unbelievable, and I knew we’d get it straight eventually. We have too many guys who can score for that type of thing to continue.”
Once the Vikings finally got started, they didn’t let up.
The Kinston lead was 16-6 early in the second quarter when Keyes turned in three electrifying plays in succession.
He swiped a pass in the open court and drove for a monster jam that ignited the home crowd. He then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and slammed that one home as well. On the Jaguars’ next possession, Keyes again got his hands on an errant pass, and this time sliced through traffic to convert a layup.
Three steals and six points in 35 seconds and suddenly Kinston led 22-6 with 6:02 remaining before halftime.
Not even a 33-minute, second-quarter delay that resulted from a wailing fire alarm could cool Kinston off.
The Vikings led 33-17 at intermission and then really put the game away with an 11-0 run to open the third period.
The scary part is that the Vikings routed the team most likely to challenge them for league supremacy despite connecting on just 2 of 13 from 3-point range.
Kinston made up for it with a 28 of 40 effort from two-point land. Keyes was a huge part of that percentage, sinking 14 of his 16 field goal attempts, including 13 in a row at one point.
“We moved the ball around well and were very unselfish on offense,” Tyndall said. “When we’re sharing the ball like that we can be a very good team.”
No one shared the ball more than Josh Dawson, who dished out nine assists to go along with 11 points.
Brandon Ingram contributed 12 points for Kinston, including both of the Vikings’ successful treys.
Defensively, Kinston forced 25 turnovers and hounded the Jaguars into a 0 of 19 performance from beyond the 3-point arc.
Although the final margin of victory was a surprise to Tyndall, Kinston’s terrific effort was not.
“I was wondering how we’d respond to those losses in Raleigh,” Tyndall said. “I had a good feeling come in because we had an outstanding week of practice and seemed to have put those games out of our mind.”
KINSTON 68, FARMVILLE CENTRAL 28
Kinston’s girls went into the winter break with three wins in five days. During the break they dropped three in a row.
They got back to their winning ways against Farmville Central, and did it in grand fashion.
Lydia Rivers scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead three Kinston players in double figures as they remained in first place in the Eastern Plains 2A Conference with a blowout victory at Viking Gym on Friday.
Anshonee Addison scored 12 points and Alexis Williams added 11 for a Kinston team that used a 9-2 spurt early in the first quarter to pull away and never look back.
Of Rivers’ 13 rebounds, 11 were on the offensive end. In all, Kinston (9-4, 3-0) had nearly as many offensive rebounds (25) as Farmville Central had total rebounds (30).
Monique Lofton had seven points and five assists and Brittany Drumgoole added four dimes for Kinston, which travels to Tarboro on Tuesday.
The Jaguars (3-7, 1-1), who didn’t score more than eight points in a single quarter, were led by Destiny Foskey’s 11 points and got nine points from Stephany Williams.
The three-game losing streak was the longest for Kinston since Dec. 2009.
BOYS
Farmville Central 6 11 6 8—31
Kinston 14 19 20 20—73
JAGUARS (10-2, 1-1) — Josh Phillips 10, Williams 9, J. Jones 4, Forbes 4, L. Jones 2, Foskey 2, Ashorn, McCabe, Taylor, Crandall, Watts, Davis.
VIKINGS (10-2, 3-0) — Denzel Keyes 29, Brandon Ingram 12, Josh Dawson 11, Lopez 6, Jones 5, Taylor 4, Hart 2, Canady 2, Jackson 2, Ham, Joyner, Rouse, White.
GIRLS
Farmville Central 8 5 7 8—28
Kinston 18 18 13 19—68
JAGUARS (3-7, 1-1) — Destiny Foskey 11, Williams 9, Hopkins 3, Blackmore 2, Hillsinger 2, White 1, Forbes, Allard, Rodgers, Hood, Gouras, Ward, Johnson, Harper, Knight, Joyner.
VIKINGS (9-4, 3-0) — Lydia Rivers 22, Anshonee Addison 12, Alexis Williams 11, Lofton 7, Harper 5, Vermillion 4, Drumgoole 4, Washington 3, Thi, Tice.