Kinston’s Isaac Parson (11) is hemmed in by West Carteret defenders Josh Williams (12) and James Kenon (40) during their game Wednesday evening. Bud Hardy photo/Neuse News

Kinston High head varsity boys' basketball coach Perry Tyndall hopes his team learned one particular lesson from it's "grinding" effort against West Carteret on Wednesday evening.

You play like you practice.

The Vikings overcame uncharacteristic defensive lulls and turnovers, and triumphed 68-56 over the Patriots. Division I recruit Dontrez Styles flirted with a double=double - 20 points, eight rebounds - with University of Pittsburgh assistant coach Jason Capel watching in the stands.

"I told our guys all week, don't live in the past," Tyndall said. "It's going to be a different game. We didn't practice the past two days the way we needed to and I thought that was a correlation tonight with being in a dogfight.

"There are some things that we've got to be better at, and come to practice and do the things we need to do to prepare for a team and not worry about what happened when we played them two weeks ago."

West Carteret proved to be a formidable foe - nothing like the team that dropped a 42-point loss to Kinston on Nov. 19.

The Patriots (4-2) stayed within three possessions on the scoreboard throughout the first three quarters. They closed to within one point on two occasions and trailed 52-49 going into the final eight minutes of action.

Tyndall noted his team's inability to properly communicate on defense enabled West Carteret to notch a couple of second-chance baskets, and stay within striking distance.

Kinston ramped up its defense, forced some turnovers and knocked down crucial shots. Styles, Isaac Parson (17 points, 12 rebounds), Cardiaa Koonce and Chance Minott each played a pivotal role as the Vikings outscored the Pats 16-9 in the final quarter.

"I thought we got some easy buckets, started scoring a little bit more around the rim," Tyndall said. "On the defensive end, we had some big stops."

Viking Girls Cruise

Unbeaten Kinston capped the opening quarter with an 8-2 run and never looked back in a 51-28 non-conference conquest of West Carteret.

Senior Taliyah Jones logged 14 points for the Vikings, who completed the regular-season sweep of the Patriots. Michayla Dove contributed eight points and Anzariya Cobb recorded five points.

Although pleased with the outcome, KHS head coach Chris Bradshaw said his team lacked intensity at times.

"We've got to know how to play four quarters of basketball regardless if we're up by 20 or down by 20 [points], that's how I looked at it," Bradshaw said. "Overall, the first half, I thought we looked good. Defense wins basketball games."

The Vikings (4-0 overall) begin defense of their Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference title at home Dec. 10 against Washington.