COURTLAND—The Southampton High School boys’ basketball team lost to the Greensville County High School team 60-47 in a Southside District contest Wednesday.

“Kinda disappointed to see it trickle down and get away from us there at the end,” said Southampton head coach Will Melbye.

Greensville (8-4, 3-1) went on an 8-point run in the first two minutes of the contest to take an 8-0 lead over the Indians. Southampton’s Lemar Ennis ended the Eagles’ offensive run after scoring two free throws. The quarter remained quiet as both teams had miscues and defensive stances. With 1:37 left in the first quarter Greensville went on another 4-point run after showing their defensive prowess between steals and defensive rebounds. The quarter ended with Greensville leading 13-3 and all of Southampton’s points were off of free throws.

“Greensville is a good team,” said Melbye, “they’re seasoned, they have played together for a while. They haven’t finished region runner-up the last three years for no reason.”

The Eagles came out to begin the 2nd quarter with a full court press, making Southampton (7-3, 1-3) revert to passing the ball to get the ball up court. A few passes were blocked or intercepted. With 7:03 left in the 2nd quarter, Nick Doyle hit a 2-point shot to score the first non-free throw point to make the score 16-5. Ronald Tyler hit a 3-pointer with 5:46 left in the quarter making the score 16-8.

The Indians seemed to get off a few good defensive plays by Jalen Ford, who had five defensive rebounds in the second quarter. Southampton pushed past Greensville’s full court press forcing the Eagles back into a half court set. Thaddeus Stephenson pulled down an offensive rebound and scored a 2-pointer with 20 seconds left in the quarter leaving the score 19-14.

Greensville’s Alvin Pair had a five second violation turning the ball back over to Southampton with 13 seconds left in the quarter. Southampton’s Josh Johnson hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left on the clock to make the score 19-17 going into the locker room.

“Nothing away from them (Greensville) but we didn’t play our best tonight,” said Melbye. “We let ourselves get in a hole. We need some new intro music or something.”

The Indians came back onto the court after halftime and tied the game for the first time of the evening after Doyle hit a 2-pointer. Greensville quickly regained the lead after scoring five points, between a 3-pointer and a stolen pass, which resulted with a fast break 2-pointer, both by Jordan Doyle. Southampton’s Andre Rawls pulled down an offensive rebound and scored on a 2-pointer, during which he was fouled setting up a one and one situation. Rawls sunk both free throws with 5:29 left in the 3rd quarter making the score 26-23.

With four minutes left in the third quarter, Southampton took the lead for the first time off of a 3-pointer by Doyle making the score 29-28.

Tyler and Stephenson both had 3-pointers at the end of the third quarter, which left Southampton with a one point lead.

Greensville’s Carrieian Powell gave the Eagle’s back the lead hits after hitting a finger roll lay-up to make the score 37-35. Southampton quickly regained the lead as Doyle hit a 3-pointer making the score 38-37. The 3rd quarter ended with Southampton leading 40-39.

“Our boys showed a lot of heart and guts,” said Melbye, “to be able to come back from being 11 down to turn around and go in at the half only down two, and then take a lead going into the fourth quarter.”

Greensville took advantage of costly errors and foul calls in the fourth quarter to take the momentum away and outscore the Indians 21-9.

“It’s going to be tough now to go there to try and split the series,” said Melbye. “We have not been there yet but I am sure it’s a tough place to play. The 58 rivalries with these guys (Greensville), Brunswick, Park View, and Blue Stone all up and down the highway, you have five teams within an hour and 45 minutes of each other, it’s going to be a battle. It’s a baptism by fire with learning how physical this district is. We came from an up-and-down paced district in the Bay Rivers, not the over physicalness. This district is going to force us to be more physical and athletic.”

Doyle who had 14 points, while Tyler had 12 points on the evening, led the Indians. The Eagles were led by Khalil Bynum and Powell, who both had 11 points.

The Indians travel to Bluestone Friday for their next match-up in the Southside District. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Then the Indians travel to Prince Edward Tuesday for another match-up in the Southside District. Game time is 7:30 p.m.