New Hanover boys’ basketball team pulls away from Ashley in second half

Despite trailing by just a point at the half, the Ashley boys’ basketball team couldn’t stop Rakeem Wilson, pictured right, in the second half. The talented guard led the Wildcats with 17 points as New Hanover pulled away and won 50-36 in a Mideastern Conference showdown.

Ashley did an excellent job of slowing down the potent Wildcat offense, but New Hanover’s full court zone trap helped force tempo and created some easy buckets for the defending state champions.

Ashley Head Coach Chad Duncan said after the game, “In the second half, we just turned the ball over too much. We played hard and played good defense, holding them to fifty points says a lot, but we need to get better opportunities on offense.”

When asked about NHHS’s defense, Coach Duncan said, “we bunched it up too much, dribbled too much instead of making quick crisp passes, but we’re going to work on that. We’ve got a week before the Brogden Tournament so hopefully we’ll be a little better.”

Wilson consistently took the ball to the hoop and spent much of the second half at the charity stripe, where he scored many of his points. Ty Walker was his usual defensive presence inside, but never really got on track offensively as the Ashley defense did a good job of minimizing his scoring, and held him to just 13 points.

Despite the valiant effort by the Screamin’ Eagles, New Hanover was able to keep their unbeaten season alive, while Ashley fell to 3-6, 0-2 in conference play.

New Hanover Head Coach Franklin McMillan said “we didn’t shoot the ball too well, I think our stat keeper said we shot about 25%.”

Despite the stuggles offensively, he was pleased with the full court pressure defense in the second half. “That’s our bread and butter. We’re going to trap and press all night long and we’re going to get better at it with time.”

When asked about Wilson’s play and ability to get to the free throw line, Coach McMillan said, “Rakeem is our floor leader, he’s the one that makes this team click. We were shooting one-and-one early (in the second half) so we wanted to attack, attack, attack.”

- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT

-- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT