COURTLAND—Lamont Moore’s 24 points help to lift Tidewater Academy 50-24 over Virginia Commonwealth Conference rival Southampton Academy in a defensive struggle Tuesday night.

Neither team got off to a quick start on the Raiders’ home floor as Tidewater took an 8-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Warriors led 21-8 at the half.

“I thought we played extremely well on defense,” said TA Coach Walter Westbrook. “I thought we shared the ball better and played better as a team.”

Tidewater’s Hunter Haywood scored 12 points and B.J. Morris scored 10 to reach double figures.

The Raiders struggled against the Warriors aggressive defense, but also had a rough night shooting the ball, said SA Coach David Gibbs.

“We played well and executed offensively, except that is the worst we’ve shot in the four years I’ve coached here,” Gibbs said. “It was very frustrating because we fought the whole game defensively.”

Gibbs compared the night shooting to being stuck in quicksand.

“A couple of things start to go wrong and then the more you fight the deeper you go,” he said.

Southampton, which typically scores on an average of eight, three-pointers a game, went 1-for-22 from behind the arc. One bright spot for the Raiders was 17 offensive rebounds.

SA’s Carson Camp led the team with 10 points, while Tonee Hill scored eight. The totals from Tuesday were eight points below Camp’s season average per game and 12 points lower than Hill’s average.

The win moves Tidewater to 14-6 overall and 8-2 and in a tie with Fuqua for second in the VCC. The loss drops SA to 6-8 and 4-7 in the conference.

The Raiders take on Kenston Forest at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, in Courtland.

Tidewater takes on Brunswick Academy at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Wakefield.