TIGERS SPLIT WITH KINSTON: Red Level looks sharp to open up basketball season

Published 12:05 am Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The Red Level Tigers split with the Kinston Bulldogs on Tuesday night in varsity basketball action in Red Level.

GIRLS

KINSTON 44, RED LEVEL 20

In the opening varsity match, the Lady Bulldogs grabbed an early lead and held of the Tigers for a 44-20 victory.

Kinston started the contest with a 3-pointer, and then Alexis Purdue hit a pair of free throws to trim the deficit to 3-2, but those were the only points the Lady Tigers produced in the opening period.

Purdue led the Lady Tigers with nine points.

BOYS

RED LEVEL 48, KINSTON 41

In the final game of the evening, the Tigers held off Kinston for a 48-41 lead.

The contest started slow, with Kinston holding a 7-6 lead at the end of the first period.

Jacob Catrett started the second period with a 3-point to give the Tigers a lead that they would hold until late in the third period.

Red Level got up to a 28-20 lead midway through the third period before Kinston began a comeback and took a 30-29 lead with just a few seconds left in the period.

Chance Russell sprinted up the court and fired off shot near half court that went in as the buzzer sounded to put Red Level up 32-30 heading into the fourth period.

Kinston rallied again in the fourth with a late 3-pointer that trimmed the Tiger lead down to 44-41 with just over 30 seconds left on the clock.

The Bulldogs fouled Catrett on the inbound pass to send him to the line for two shots. Catrett hit both to put the Tigers up 46-41.

Catrett capped the game with another pair of free throws with four seconds left on the clock.

Russell led the Tigers with 16 points and Catrett finished with 15 points.

“The pace of the game started slow, but we started to score pretty steadily the next three periods,” Tiger head coach Allen Catrett said. “We just really did a lot of good things tonight. We did all the small things well. I thought we did a good job rebounding and limiting them to just one shot, and we also didn’t turn the ball over much. Both of those things allowed us to really set the pace of the game.”