Arendell Parrott Academy’s student section’s Christmas sweaters weren’t the only ugly thing inside the school’s gym Monday.
The Patriots (2-5) committed 14 first-half turnovers in a 46-33 loss to Cary Christian.
The Knights, who ran a three-quarter court trap for the majority of the game, were able to disrupt the Patriots’ passing lanes early, scoring the game’s first eight points and expanding the lead to 11 at the half.
Coming out from the break, the Patriots adjusted their approach to the trap and began to close the gap.
“We adjusted by putting somebody in the middle to spread that trap,” Patriots coach Shivar Person said. “For us, you can beat the trap by going inside and out, you can’t dribble out of it, and in the first half we dribbled into the trap.”
After going down by 12 just seconds into the third quarter, the Patriots were able to reel off eight straight points to cut the lead to 24-20.
With momentum on their side, APA trailed by six entering the final 12 minutes of the game, but a hard foul by Patriots guard Pierce Beaman was ruled a technical foul and helped the Knights increase the lead to 10 points — and have enough of a cushion to finish out the game.
“The flagrant foul didn’t help us, (and) that killed all of our momentum,” Person said. “Unfortunately, that’s part of basketball — two guys going at it. The competitiveness I like, but the foul probably wasn’t the best (for our team) in that situation.”
It was APA’s second conference loss of the season. However, Person is optimistic about where is team is headed in the New Year. Parrott traveled to Kerr-Vance Academy Tuesday for their last game of 2013. They will resume play on Jan. 3 against Wayne Country Day.
“We’re still trying to find our legs,” he said. “(Due to football and injuries) we haven’t been able to have a five-on-five practice yet. Defensively our adjustments are working, we’re getting better.”
The Knights were led by Jason Thompson (10 points), who connected on all six of his fourth quarter foul shots, including Beaman’s technical and an intentional foul called on Caleb Quinn while he was driving to the basket.
Quinn led all scorers with 11 points. John McLawhorn added eight for the Patriots.
Parrott scoring: Caleb Quinn 11, McLawhorn 8, Rasberry 5, Killinger 4, Beaman 3, Finizio 2.
CC scoring: Jason Thompson 10, Ellis 8, Smith 8, Gray 5, Winter-Hortley 5, Gray 3, Mullaney 3, Dukes 3, Mendes 2, Rabello 2.
