By Marco Clark, exclusive to the Times
Tuesday night the Chiefs rolled past the Pineville Rebels with a variety of players scoring at will. Action picked up in the first quarter with Brian White hitting a 3-pointer to get the ball rolling. Pineville inbounded the ball only to have it stripped away by a smothering full court press. Natchitoches Central’s Adrian Remo stole the pass and dished it to Desmond Vaughn for a two-point score to putting the Chiefs up by five.
The next possession for the Rebels did not fare well either. Once again, the full court press caused Pineville to make a costly mistake by passing the ball out of bounds. Tre Solitaire scored on the next possession to extend the NCHS lead to seven. At this point, nothing seemed to work in Pineville’s favor. Turnover after turnover was the story for the Rebels in the first. The Chiefs closed out the first quarter with a 25-3 lead.
The Rebels started the second quarter badly. Miscommunication forced three consecutive turnovers for Pineville, all converted into points for the Chiefs. NCHS’s Calvin Carpenter led the way in the second to extend the Chiefs lead 41-15 at the end of the first half. Coach Micah Coleman started second stringers in the third, in preparation for the playoffs, but after a couple of mistakes, Coleman went to his bench, featuring freshman Darius Young. The young Chiefs showed no fear their entire time out on the court.
Their relentless defense and offensive scoring ability kept them in a comfortable lead. The Chiefs Richard Moody and Zamauri Miller added five points a piece while Carpenter led the third in scoring with six. NCHS went into the final period with a 61-29 lead. This ended up as the most competitive of the night as both Natchitoches Central and Pineville both scored a total of 19 points. The lead NCHS built early on was still too much for the Rebels to overcome. The Chiefs Dale Newton led Natchitoches Central in scoring during the fourth quarter with six giving the Chiefs a final score of 80-45.
