Foul trouble sends Wildcats to season's first loss

Tue. January 17, 2012 at 7:53 a.m. | By Powell Latimer | StarNews Staff Writer

New Hanover’s Nigel Holley (right) soars to the net over Fayetteville Pine Forest’s Naquon Smith at the MLK Jamboree at Union High School on Monday. Holley and several teammates were saddled with foul trouble early as the Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season, 67-61 to the Trojans. (Photo by Photo by Mike Spencer)

ROSE HILL | The New Han-over boys basketball team finally suffered its first blemish of the season Monday afternoon.
At Union High School's MLK Jamboree, the Wildcats (14-1) ran up against the dual threat of foul trouble and a scrappy Pine Forest team. The result was a 67-61 loss, the first for the Wildcats this season.
New Hanover's powerful starting lineup actually spent much of the the first half on the bench, saddled with fouls. Kadeem Allen, the Wildcats' sparkplug guard, picked up two fouls in the first minutes and had to take a seat. Allen finished with 17 points, but only two in the first half. Thomas Johnson and center Nigel Holley also picked up early fouls and had to sit.
"I thought it changed the game," New Hanover coach Kirk Angel said. "You're never going to hear me complain about things that I can't control, but it did hurt for guys that contribute a lot to sit a ton of minutes in the first half."
With much of their offensive firepower riding the pine, the Wildcats struggled. Pine Forest's set of quick guards took advantage, building an eight-point lead at halftime.
"They're fast and they can shoot," Angel said. "It seemed like everybody they ran off the bench could extend you and shoot threes."
The Wildcats rallied to tie the game at 44 heading into the fourth quarter and led as late as the 4:20 mark of the final period.
But Pine Forest kept its nose in front, first with a thunderous follow jam from Naquon Smith to put the Trojans in front and then perfect shooting from the free-throw line. The Trojans hit all 13 attempts from the foul line in the final period as New Hanover tried to claw back into the game.
Despite the loss, Angel said the silver lining is that the Wildcats dropped a game that is essentially meaningless in the overall scope of the season.
"It's a game," Angel said. "It's not a playoff game, it's not a league game. So we're thankful for that."

Hoggard 68, Britt 62
Hoggard weathered a late charge from Jack Britt in the MLK Jamboree's opening game and held on for a 68-62 win with some sweet perimeter shooting.
The Vikings built up an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter, largely based on the Vikings' 10 3-pointers.
With starting forward Darius Plummer sidelined with an injury for the game, Hoggard instead turned to the perimeter. Jack Britt made the mistake of playing loose around the perimeter, and Hoggard took full advantage early.
The Vikings connected from deep 10 times from three different shooters, and Hoggard shot 62 percent from the field.
"That was really big tonight," Hoggard coach Brett Queen said. "Getting some contributions from some people that haven't given us scoring contributions in the first half of the season. That's something we talked about being important as we move forward."
Tyler Thayer led the way with 21 points for Hoggard, and the Vikings seemed in control, up 58-40 in the fourth quarter. But Jack Britt came roaring back and closed the game to six points with a minute to play.
"I think our guys relaxed a little bit and thought they were going to be able to coast," Queen said. "Sometimes you've got one team that's relaxed and one team that's desperate, and it doesn't usually look very good."
Hoggard held on in the fourth, but needed a pair of timely free throws from Joe O'Donnell to secure the win.

New Hanover’s Nigel Holley (right) soars to the net over Fayetteville Pine Forest’s Naquon
Smith at the MLK Jamboree at Union High School on Monday. Holley and several teammates
were saddled with foul trouble early as the Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season,
67-61 to the Trojans.
Fresh off a ringing blowout at home against a conference foe, Laney was in need of a win.
But last Friday's 52-point loss to New Hanover will have to fester a little while longer, as the Buccaneers were unable to pull off the win against 3A Westover, falling 68-57.
The Bucs held a narrow lead for much of the game on the strength of Elijah Wilson's scoring.
The Bucs' leading scorer poured in 27 points for the game. Fifteen of those came in the first half as Laney entered the locker room with a two-point lead.
Westover adjusted in the third quarter to surge ahead. Not only did Westover hold Wilson scoreless for the period, it also outscored Laney 18-6 in the period and never looked back.