Horton boys, girls; NKEC girls win regional basketball titles

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

The Horton boys and girls and NKEC girls all won Western Region basketball titles last weekend, the Horton teams at home and NKEC on the road in Liverpool.

All three teams advance directly to provincials next weekend, while the Central Kings boys hope to advance from a provincial qualifier this weekend in Cambridge after dropping the regional final 62-47 to Bridgewater on their home court.

Division 1 boys

The Horton boys stretched their winning streak to 61 games, making short work of Yarmouth and Park View, defeating the Panthers 98-59 in the regional final.

Horton will host provincials Feb. 28 to March 1 and, as the defending provincial champion and undefeated in 2007/ 2008, is assured of the top seeding.

Ellis Ffrench led the way in the final with 29 points, Sage Tanner had 17, Pat Riley 16, Jeremy Dunn 14 and Neal McGill 11 for Horton; which led 48-24 at halftime.

Horton advanced to the final by defeating Yarmouth by a wide margin. For the second weekend in a row, Horton’s reserves managed to outscore the entire opposing team. Dunn and Ffrench had 25 points apiece (despite barely playing in the second half), and Pat Riley (14), McGill (12), Jake Kendrick (11), Matt Riley and Stephen Traynor (10 apiece) all reached double figures.

Division 1 girls

The Horton girls punched their ticket to D-1 girls’ provincials with an 82-40 win over Park View, which had advanced to the final with a 66-59 win over Yarmouth.

Kira Pederson continued a fine rookie season for the Griffins, leading all scorers with 26 points. Lindsay Harris added 20 points and Christine Crowell 14. Horton led 25-8 after one quarter and had a 41-23 edge at halftime.

The Griffins advanced to the final with a 65-23 win over Avon View. Harris had 14 points and Crowell and Nataleah Irvine 12 apiece for Horton, which led 31-11 at halftime. Chelsea Cox had eight points to lead Avon View.

Division 2

The NKEC girls won their regional title with a 55-51 overtime win over Middleton, which had advanced to the final by defeating Liverpool, the top South Shore team and the tournament host.

NKEC trailed by 19 points in the second half, only to come back to tie the score and force overtime. Laura Roy had 25 points to lead all scorers, and MacKenzie Ellsworth also had a strong game, finishing with 10 points.

In the semifinals, NKEC defeated Central Kings 55-30 behind 16 points from Jessica Mahaney and 14 from Emma Young.

Division 2 boys

Central Kings hosted an eight-team D-2 boys’ regionals and, after winning their first two games, ran out of gas in the championship game.

The Gators held Bridgewater to just 23 first-half points, but scored only 14 of their own and trailed by nine at halftime. Dustin Poirier had 22, 13 in the second half; Jeremy Shepherd added 13. Jacob Tuchendler had 20 for Bridgewater and Matt Snyder 16.

C.K. opened with a 79-59 win over Kings-Edgehill, with Poirier leading all scorers with 32 points and Nick DeAdder chipping in 18. Sam Hsaio had 20, Marshall Dunn 13 and Oisin Singh 10 for Kings-Edgehill.

In other quarterfinal action featuring Valley teams, West Kings edged Forest Heights, with Thomas Baltzer scoring 16 points, and NKEC fell 73-50 to Barrington, with Trinton Parker scoring 14 and Dylan Bailey 11 in a losing effort.

In the semifinals, Central Kings got by Barrington 59-53, led by Trevor Mollins with 17 points, Shepherd with 16 and Poirier with 14. Bridgewater advanced to the final with a 115-39 win over West Kings.

In consolation play, Kings-Edgehill defeated NKEC 77-69. Hsaio had 20 points and Dunn 18 for Kings-Edgehill, and Jesse Benjamin led all scorers with 25, including seven three-pointers, for the Titans, whose season ended with the loss.

Barrington edged West Kings 63-59 in the third-place game, and Kings-Edgehill topped Forest Heights 45-42 in a low-scoring fifth-place contest.