Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By James J. Lidington

NEWPORT NEWS

Isle of Wight Academy got 12 points from guard Jabari Thomas as they bested Denbigh Baptist Christian 50-26 last Friday in Newport News.

Teammates Grant Worthy, Jacob Chapman and Russ Wells each had 8 for the Chargers (14-9, 7-4 Metro Athletic Conference).

Denbigh scored only 2 points in the game’s first 14 minutes of play and, by that point, IWA led 30-2 before the Minutemen scored again with 1:38 left before halftime.

•••

The Chargers avenged an earlier loss to Hampton Christian, beating the Warriors 65-55 on Feb. 4. Hampton had previously triumphed over IWA 59-54 on Jan. 10 in Jester Gym.

Thomas had 20 points and William Fricke added 12 for IWA; Russ Wells contributed 11 points.

The contest figured to be another close one between the two teams, who were tied at 12 with 2:15 left in the first quarter. Then IWA embarked on a 9-2 run to take a 16-12 lead to the second period.

Hampton scored to open the period, but then the Chargers went on a 10-2 binge that saw them take a 26-14 lead when freshman Payton Shipman scored with 4:11 left before halftime.

Thomas scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half for IWA.

•••

As predicted last week, IWA moved past StoneBridge for fourth place in the Metro. Thanks to the win against Hampton Christian, the Chargers pursuit of a higher seed in the Metro Athletic Conference Tournament continues.

The Chargers will face off this week against two of the other Metro teams to defeat them this year. They hosted Portsmouth Christian on Tuesday and Atlantic Shores on Thursday. Games begin at 7 p.m.

Wells solidified his hold on the team scoring lead. Through 23 games, the junior averaged 14 points per game. Price was second with 13.8 points per game. Thomas averaged 12 points per contest; Worthy, 11.8.

•••

The IWA girls team (9-7, 6-2 Metro) remained in third place in the conference behind Shores and StoneBridge.

The Lady Chargers defeated Denbigh Baptist 39-17 last Thursday.

IWA’s Lily Williams was third in the conference scoring standings with a 10.7 points-per-game average. The Lady Chargers’ Lily Jones was 10th with 6.2 points per game.

The Lady Chargers travelled to Norfolk Academy for a game at 7 p.m. on Monday. They were to play the 5:30 p.m. game on Tuesday, and Thursday against PCS and Shores in Jester Gym.

•••

The JV boys team wraps up its regular season this week with games against Norfolk Academy on Monday, Portsmouth Christian on Tuesday and Atlantic Shores on Thursday. The team travels to Norfolk before getting underway with a two-game home stand to end the year.

The Seahawks are the only Metro Conference team to defeat the JV Chargers (16-2, 7-1 Metro) this year.

•••

The Isle of Wight Academy boys JJV team was eliminated from postseason play, while the JJV girls team will play in the tournament beginning on Feb. 14.

The third-seeded Lady Chargers will play Denbigh Baptist Christian at 5 p.m. on Friday at Gateway Christian. The tournament championship will be at 11 a.m. this Saturday at Gateway.

The boys JJV team finished the year 2-5; the girls finished 5-2.

JAMES J. LIDINGTON is a teacher at Isle of Wight Academy. He can be reached at 357-3866.