Overhills sweeps Triton boys and girls basketball
Overhills’ boys basketball team earned the bragging right as best team in Harnett County when it won the Tipoff Tournament at Campbell University to open the season.
On Monday, they hammered the point home with a 69-59 win at Triton to remain undefeated on the year.
Triton’s girls also won the same tournament, but suffered their second setback against an in-county school since winning the title with a 47-43 loss to Overhills.
GIRLS
Triton was down as much as 14-2 in the first quarter, but only trailed 21-19 at halftime and took a lead on a 3-pointer to start the third. Overhills regained composure, however, and took a 37-32 lead going into the fourth.
“I was most impressed with our half-court defense,” first-year coach Tod Bonello said. “We put pressure on them and that’s what got us over the edge.”
The Jaguars (3-5) were led in the post by Mikayla Jackson (18 points). Ajala Baker (nine points) and Kiana Jones (seven points) rounded out the top three scorers.
The win shows improvement after falling to the Hawks (2-7) 49-42 in the Tipoff title game.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Bonello said.
Triton got some hot shooting from Anna Tyndall (21 points) and Kathryn Elliott (11 points).
BOYS
The Jaguars (8-0) are getting big boost from Josh Richmond. Richmond, who had a game-high with 21 points, barely played last year.
“I was staying in the gym all summer and now things are working for the better,” Richmond said. “I was doing the Denzel Valentine shooting drill.”
Zavian McLean (16 points), Latrell Lloyd (14 points) and Pedro Gama (10 points) rounded out a balanced scoring attack.
“It’s different guys every night, but for the most part we’ve had three or four guys in double-figures,” fourth-year coach Tony Lewis said. “We’re small, we’ve got to get stuff in transition, we’ve got to try and turn people over. And they play hard every night. We don’t do everything right, but I have never been disappointed with their effort.”
Triton (3-6) was led by forward Shiquan Cox, who scored 19 points on 9 of 12 shooting inside. Chrishaun Henry had 13 points and Byron Massey added eight. The Hawks were down by nearly 20 at one point but got within two in the fourth.
“I don’t think we played particularly well, but I do like that we were fighting and we were staying in there,” Triton coach T.J. Morrison said. “I think it’ll benefit us later because we played a good team and had our chances.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Overhills sweeps Triton boys and girls basketball."