NEWPORT NEWS
Isle of Wight Academy’s Benjamin Vaughan is one win shy of 600, placing him among the elite high school hoops coaches in South Hampton Roads, following the weekend Holiday Classic tournament at Peninsula Catholic School.

The Chargers finished the tournament with a 1-2 record, falling Monday to Virginia Beach Friends School 64-48 in the fifth-place game. IWA is 3-10 overall.

IWA’s Bryce Casey finished with 22 points. Peninsula’s Mijdrang Dronjak also had 22 to lead the Waves.

Career win no. 599 came at the expense of Suffolk Christian, 62-28, Sunday in a consolation bracket semifinal. Bryce Casey led all scorers with 16 points and teammate Samuel Butler had a season-high 12 points; all of his points came from three-point range.

IWA charged out of the gates, outscoring the Knights 22-5 in the first quarter. Casey had 12 of his points during that same stretch. His younger brother, Brandon Casey, also had a season-high 10 points in the game.

Suffolk Christian was led by Michael Cornette’s 11 points; teammate Nathan Leiter had 10 points.

IWA struggled to find its stride Friday night in its 62-49 loss to tournament host Peninsula Catholic. Not even sophomore Rylee Williams’ season-high 15 points were enough to get the Chargers revved up.

Peninsula Catholic, 4-7 coming into the game, raced out to a 12-6 first-quarter lead. The teams were an even 8-to-8 in the second quarter as Peninsula took a 20-14 lead. The host school came out strong in the third quarter, outscoring IWA 20-13 to take a 40-27 third-quarter lead.

Peninsula was led by Kyle Foster’s 16 points; a trio of teammates — Akeen Hicks, Amir Nesbitt and Eric Taleghani — each had 10 points.

In Williamsburg this past week, not even Bryce Casey’s 25 game-high points were enough as Isle of Wight Academy bowed to Williamsburg Christian 66-40 on Thursday night.

Williamsburg was led by Xavier Green with 23 points; Andre Brown had 20 points.

The Chargers trailed by only a point, 7-6, with 4:41 remaining in a low-scoring first quarter. Then the Eagles scored 14 of the next 18 points to take a 21-10 lead at the end of the quarter. IWA closed the gap before halftime, outscoring Williamsburg 10-8 in the second quarter to make it 29-20 in favor of the Eagles at the break.

Then Casey his his stride. He scored 15 of his points in the second half as the Chargers tried to keep it close. Williamsburg’s 22-point fourth quarter sealed the deal, however.