Kinston’s Dontrez Styles (3) puts down a monster dunk during opening-half action against Washington on Tuesday evening. Bud Hardy/Neuse News.

Turnovers and defensive lapses.

Kinston nearly fell victim to both against Eastern Carolina 2-A rival Washington, but escaped 73-70 in a battle of the unbeatens inside Viking Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

Junior Dontrez Styles supplied 11 of his team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter and pulled down nine rebounds for the Vikings, who remained perfect in four outings this season.

Isaac Parson knocked down 10 points and Jeremy Dixon collected nine - all from long distance - as NC State head coach Kevin Keatts and his assistant, Roy Roberson; and Wake Forest assistant coach Steve Woodberry watched the drama unfold from the baseline near the Kinston bench.

"I'm proud," said KHS head coach Perry Tyndall, whose team survived 26 turnovers.

"You definitely want to figure out ways to win these games and you hope that translates to paying off later. We definitely don't want to make it interesting like we did tonight."

Dixon's 3-pointer from deep in the corner sparked the Vikings to an 8-0 run just after halftime. The sophomore added two more 3s and got scoring help from Will London and Takhari Evans as Kinston built a 54-35 advantage.

Washington (4-1) abandoned its 3-2 zone and switched to man-to-man in the fourth. The strategy energized the Pam Pack, who capitalized on Kinston's miscues and shaved the deficit to 63-56 with 3:37 left in regulation.

Styles scored in transition from Parson and Chance Minott's free throw pushed the lead to 66-56 with 1:54 to go.

Turnovers enabled the Pam Pack to stay within striking distance. Junior Omarion Blount cashed in a 3-pointer that cut the margin to 71-67 with 8.1 seconds on the clock.

Styles sealed the outcome on back-to-back free throws with 7.3 to go.

"We had a bad defensive game and we turned the ball over a lot in the zone," Parson said. "[Coach Tyndall said] we've got to improve, lock it in, practice and go from here. A win is a win no matter how bad we played."

Kinston returns to action Friday at South Lenoir. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. inside Munn Gymnasium.

Viking Girls Dominate

Kinston is living by the mantra "EET" - energy, effort and teamwork.

And head coach Chris Bradshaw couldn't be more proud.

The Vikings erupted for 33 first-quarter points and handed Washington a 71-27 loss in the Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference opener for both teams.

"I thought the girls played well. We shared the ball extremely well, probably one of the best games I've seen as far as sharing the basketball since I've been coaching here...made the extra pass," said Bradshaw, whose team had 24 assists on 27 made field goals.

Taliyah Jones tallied 14 points for Kinston, which has won 98 of 101 league contests since 2011. Michyla Dove added 13 points and emerged as the co-assist leader (seven) with Sherice Jones.

Quiaira Powell flirted with a double-double - 11 points and seven rebounds.

All 11 Vikings played and scored.

Kinston (5-0) entertains Southern Wayne today and is the guest of South Lenoir on Friday.