Chargers get chance for play-in game
Published 9:58 am Monday, February 16, 2015
ISLE OF WIGHT COURTHOUSE
After picking up win No. 600, Coach Benjamin “Benny” Vaughan and his Isle of Wight Academy Chargers went on a four-game losing skid. However, on Wednesday, they were able to snap that streak with a 66-59 victory against the Kenston Forest Kavaliers.
Isle of Wight Academy’s Adam Webb gets a shot over a defender in a previous matchup. The Chargers will host Denbigh Baptist Christian School on Tuesday.
Bryce Casey led the Chargers in scoring with 24 points, and Adam Webb contributed 16. So far, the Chargers have completed a 5-20 season, with one game left to be played. The game is against Alliance Christian Academy, and it ended after The Tidewater News went to press.
No matter the outcome of the game, the Chargers will finish as the conference’s No. 8 seed out of nine teams. Thus, Isle of Wight will host No. 9 seed Denbigh Baptist Christian School on Tuesday for a play-in game. Tipoff is at 5 p.m.
During the season, the Chargers beat the Minutemen both times. On Dec. 9, they notched a 74-63 victory. And after a seven-game losing streak, the team earned Vaughan his 600th win on Jan. 23 by beating Denbigh 47-35.
“They were both competitive games,” Vaughan said. “They have two exceptional ball players, a 6-foot-3 center and a 6-foot-1 guard. They’ve averaged 14-15 points a game, and we’ll have to stop them.”
Vaughan said that rebounding was another key, as was making sure to get points on fast breaks.
“We’ll have to keep them off the boards, as their strength is offensive rebounding,” he said. “We are a little bit quicker than they are, so we have to do a good job there.”
Should Isle of Wight win, they will earn the opportunity to play No. 1 seed Atlantic Shores, who beat the Chargers by more than 25 points both games this season. That game will be at Portsmouth Christian School. Tipoff is 3:45 p.m.
