Cape Fear Academy pulled away from Arendell Parrott Academy Thursday night, beating the host Patriots 53-36 in an early-season, non-conference match-up.
The Patriots (1-2 overall, 1-0 conference) couldn’t overcome a woeful shooting night, as a 12-of-44 (27 percent) effort from the floor combined with an equally dreadful 10-of-23 (43 percent) from the free throw line wasn’t nearly enough to hang with the Hurricanes.
“Missed free throws and missed layups were the difference in the game tonight,” Parrott coach Shivar Person said. “We had made 72 percent of our free throws (until) tonight.”
The Hurricanes’ tenacious half-court defense created trouble for Parrott all night, as the Patriots struggled to create enough space for open looks. Cape Fear forced 22 Parrott turnovers, including 15 in the first half alone. Due in large part to the scrappy defense of both teams, the teams actually combined for more fouls (14) than total points (12) as late as the six-minute mark in the second quarter.
“We’re just now figuring out who we are as a team,” said Cape Fear coach Loren Baysden, whose team improved to 3-0 with the win. “We are learning that defense is our best offense.”
In the first quarter, Parrott jumped out to an early 4-2 lead on a pair of baskets by Pierce Beaman, who led his team with 11 points. Theteam went cold from there, scoring on just one of 13 field goal attempts the rest of the half. Toby Finizio snapped a nine-minute drought from the floor and knotted the score at 8-all with 5:07 to play in the first half, but the Hurricanes responded with a 13-1 run to end the half with a 21-9 lead.
The Hurricanes extended the lead in the third quarter, going 8-of-14 from the field (57 percent). Gene Middleton, who led all scorers with 16 points, connected on all four 3-pointers he attempted for the Hurricanes. Jay Batcher (14 points) and Evan Head (12 points) joined him in double figures, as Batcher also notched a double-double, adding 10 rebounds to go along with his 14 points.
“(Middleton) is one of our best shooters,” Baysden said. “We have about three guys who have the potential to lead the team in scoring. It was good to see one of them break out tonight.”
The Patriots twice cut the deficit to 10 points but could never draw within single digits, as Middleton answered each Parrott run with a trifecta. The Hurricanes scored the game’s final six points to close out the win.
“We pride ourselves on defense,” Person said. “Tonight, we had a couple of miscommunications on defense that led to open 3’s.”
Parrott once again played without the services of shooting guard Zacchaeus Rasberry, who missed the game with a sprained MCL. That, along with the fact that Parrott has only had three full-team practices since the season began — a situation caused by every player on the roster being involved in a fall sport— almost certainly contributed to the outcome, but Person refused to use either as an excuse.
“It is what it is,” Person said. “Injuries happen in basketball.”
The good news for Parrott is that the Patriots do not play again until Dec. 2 when they travel to Harrells Academy, an 11-day break that, as Person said, should give his team some time to “get their feet back into basketball mode” and recover from any lingering injuries.