Defense carries New Hanover to boys basketball win over Laney

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The New Hanover boys basketball team ran its winning streak to five with a stellar defensive effort Friday night at Laney.

The Wildcats forced 18 turnovers and built a big enough cushion in the third quarter to hold on for a 50-44 road win that kept them unbeaten in the Mideastern Conference.

“We’ve got a super aggressive bunch and they play extremely hard,” New Hanover coach Kirk Angel said. “We knew they would make a run because they are senior heavy and we’re sophomore heavy, but our seniors were able to settle us down and we found a way to win.”

The first possession for each team was a microcosm of what was to come. Laney won the tip, missed a shot and turned the ball over. On the other end, the Wildcats (7-3, 3-0) got a 3-pointer from senior Mikai Stanley. 

It was a lead they would never relinquish.

Playing a sagging man-to-man defense, the Buccaneers (7-4, 1-2) were content to let New Hanover shoot from the outside. The strategy didn’t pay off, as the visitors knocked down their first five attempts from beyond the arc. 

“You look at their stats and scout them and I hadn’t seen them hit that many 3’s, so you’ve got to credit those guys for making shots,” Laney coach Eric Davis said. “I felt like those shots would stop falling and eventually they did. We only gave up 50 points, but we’ve got to be better offensively.” 

Scotty Deffinbaugh ignited a 15-4 run that spanned the firs and second quarters with one of his two 3-pointers. When James Jones Jr. made a layup with 4:42 left in the second period, the lead was 29-17.

Laney closed the gap to six points at halftime, but it wasn’t long before they trailed by 16 after the Wildcats opened the second half on a 11-1 run.

“We keep telling the guys that if we make shots it will spread people out and then we’re really playing like we want to play,” Angel said. “They are starting to figure that out.”

The Buccaneers only scored four points in the third quarter despite having 19 possessions. Makoa Surigao had a layup and Marc McLaurin sank a pair of free throws.

The home team was able to make a late charge thanks to five turnovers in the final quarter from New Hanover. Cameron Wallace scored on a layup with 1:07 left to trim the deficit to 48-44, but a well-run in-bounds play from the Wildcats on the ensuing possession led to a wide-open layup from Dee Barnett that sealed the victory.

Maleec Myers led New Hanover with eight points, five rebounds and two assists, while Stanley finished with seven points, eight rebounds and two assists. Deffinbaugh and Jaheim Marshall each added six points.

Laney, which shot 35 percent from the field (18 of 51), got eight points a piece from McLaurin, Surigao and Lawrence Newkirk.