By By AARON CARPENTER, Staff Correspondent
CHOCOWINITY – The Southside Seahawks were able to keep the basketball game close at first, but Roanoke stepped on the gas in the second half and blew out the Southside boys 80-38 Wednesday night.
The Redskins had four players in double digits by the end of the night, and Southside just couldn’t keep up offensively.
Roanoke opened the game by scoring nine unanswered before Southside could settle down and get the offense going.
The Seahawks battled mightily in the first quarter, clawing their way back to within six when Dash Spruell sank a short jumper with only 10 seconds remaining to make the score 18-12.
Unfortunately for Southside, Roanoke added to its lead in the early going of the second quarter by going on a 7-2 run, capped by Aaron Baker’s 3-pointer to extend the lead to 11.
The Seahawks were able to cut the lead back down to six, but with just over two minutes left in the half, the Redskins scored another nine straight points to make the lead 15.
Broderick Moore got a layup to go at the end of the half to make the mid-way score 34-21.
It was the third quarter though, that truly put the game out of reach.
Over the first three minutes of the third, three players for Roanoke, Kenneth Hyman, Alonzo Higgs and Baker, dismantled the Seahawk defense and scored 14 consecutive points to garner a 27-point lead.
It wasn’t for a lack of effort, but Southside just couldn’t seem to get the ball to go into the basket in the third, managing to only score five points in the entire quarter.
Roanoke’s Savion Hudson was also able to sink eight of his 15 in the second half of the third quarter which helped his team to a 61-26 lead to start the fourth.
Offensively, things improved a little for Southside in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the firepower Roanoke was laying down.
Contributions from the bench for the Redskins helped maintain and extend the lead in the fourth, which Roanoke led in scoring 19-12.
Southside just couldn’t get shots to fall in the second half and Roanoke was able to use a significant rebounding advantage to come away with a lot of fastbreak points.
Roanoke kept up a pressure defense the entire game and that didn’t help, resulting in several turnovers by the Southside squad.
The Lady Redskins were able to match their male counterparts on the court, beating the Lady Seahawks 56-33.
The game surely didn’t start out that way, however.
The Southside ladies played Roanoke toe-to-toe in the first quarter, a quarter in which it seemed neither team could miss a shot.
Antoinette Bragg and Courtney Avery of Southside combined for eight in the first and the other three starters matched them to total 16.
Roanoke did manage to edge the Seahawks by one in the first though, scoring many of its points in the lane.
With the score at 17-16 Roanoke, the Lady Seahawk shooting went cold in the second and they could only gut out three points.
Their defense kept them in the game though, as Roanoke was limited to 10 in the second, going into the locker room with the Redskins leading 27-19.
Unfortunately for Southside, the ladies stayed cold in the third quarter, netting only 4 points to Roanoke’s 9. That increased the lead to 36-23, which turned out to be a little too much for the Lady Seahawks to overcome.
Good inside play with some timely outside shooting from Roanoke was the hallmark of the second half.
The Redskins’ Emoni Jones played a superb inside game and Lavasia Taylor hit most everything from outside to put the game away in the fourth quarter.
Tamisha Creadle of Southside, who played all 32 minutes, received high praise from Lake at the end of the game.
Southside welcomes Northside on Friday night.
Roanoke 18 16 27 19 – 80
Southside 12 9 5 12 – 38
ROANOKE (80)
Kenneth Hyman 22, Aaron Baker 15, Savion Hudson 15, Alonzo Higgs 10, Ward 6, Little 4, Perkins 4, Cooper 2, Massenberg 2
SOUTHSIDE (38)
Byron Jordan 10, N. Moore 7, B. Moore 6, Stokes 4, Weston 4, Windley 4, Spruell 2, Mullins 1
Girls
Roanoke 17 10 9 20 – 56
Southside 16 3 4 10 – 33
ROANOKE (56)
Emoni Jones 24, Lavasia Taylor 13, Dolberry 9, Council 4, Lord 3, Green 3
SOUTHSIDE (33)
Bragg 8, Creadle 8, Avery 6, Thomas 4 Lomax 2, Harding 2, Penn 2, Haywood 1