LAWRENCEVILLE—Southampton High School boys on Friday night lost to Southside District foe Brunswick, 63-44.

The Indians record fell to 8-4 overall and 1-2 in the district.

Southampton opened the game according to plan — get the ball inside for lay-ups and when Brunswick collapses, kick out for open looks. On the defensive end, they knew they would have to be physical inside with Brandon Stith to out rebound him and keep a hand in the face of shooters Trey Mason and BJ Stith to limit their outside effectiveness. They accomplished each of those two things in the game’s first minutes, and jumped out to a 5-0 lead.

In a game that was played much closer than the final score, the Indians were unable to handle the speed of the Bulldogs in the open court and were unable to capitalize on their own opportunities. Empty trips were something the team had stressed in meetings and practices leading up to Friday night’s game.

“Our seniors brought it up,” said Southampton Coach Will Melbye. “We have to capitalize on all of our chances. We cannot miss ‘bunnies,’ we cannot leave those points on the floor. They need to be on the board.”

“We haven’t faced anyone this year that was as quick up the floor as BJ,” Melbye continued. “There’s a reason he’s the number one prospect in the Commonwealth in his class, and it just really caught us off guard. We were ready for their traps and for the most part handled them. We knew what Brandon and Tre wanted to do, but we would make a shot or miss a bunny inside and boom, they were down the floor. That is a side of them I have not seen in three years. But again, when you have two high level Division I kids on a AA team, you can do things that most people are not going to see all year long.”

The second quarter was the telling story of the game. The Bulldogs held Southampton to nine points and stretched their lead to 31-19 at the half.

The two teams went back and forth.

“We handled their aggressiveness a lot better in the second half,” Melbye said. “Got some great minutes from the guys off the bench. Michael Frazier came into the game with about three minutes to go in the third quarter and just stifled Brandon. That was impressive.”

The closest the Indians got was within 10 twice, but the Bulldogs got some long outlet passes and capitalized with an array of dunks and jumpers.

The loss puts the Indians in a predicament in the district standings, but with give games left on their Southside calendar, a second-place finish is not too far fetched.

Southampton played Northampton Tuesday night. Results were not available as of press time.