Kinston’s Judah McBynum grabs a rebound during Thursday’s game. McBynum sparked a second-quarter surge for the Vikings with four 3-pointers during the frame. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News

By Bryan Hanks

The Kinston boys’ and girls’ basketball teams took care of business in Thursday’s second round of the NCHSAA 2A playoffs, so they’ll be both be playing in Saturday’s third-round contests.

The Vikings boys defeated Southwest Edgecombe, 59-45, while the girls downed Roanoke Rapids, 61-44.

The boys (24-6) are now set to play the No. 1 team in the state, undefeated Farmville Central (28-0) in Farmville; that game will be played at approximately 7:30-8 p.m. The Kinston girls (23-5) will host the third round against High Point Andrews (21-6) at Viking Gym Saturday at a time to be determined.

Kinston officials are doing their best to schedule the girls’ game in the mid-afternoon so Vikings fans can attend both games. Kinston is also guaranteed at least 300 seats at Farmville Central Saturday night (per NCHSAA rules), and information about those tickets will be available Friday morning.

The ninth-seeded Vikings boys took control of the game in the second quarter against the 25th-seeded Cougars of SW Edgecombe (15-14), who upset Southwest Onslow in the first round. After Kinston took a 10-7 lead into the second frame, the Vikings outscored the Cougars 27-13 in the period to take a 37-20 halftime lead, thanks to four 3-pointers from senior wing Judah McBynum. The Cougars didn’t get closer than 12 the rest of the way after Kinston’s big second quarter.

“We got some defensive stops and Judah got really hot,” Kinston coach Perry Tyndall said. “We were making some extra passes and finding him.”

Kinston sophomore wunderkind Dontrez Styles had another impressive outing, scoring 16 points while pulling down 13 rebounds. He also had four blocked shots and four assists. McBynum finished with 14 points while Vikings junior point guard Isaac Parson scored 11 points while dishing out eight assists. Parson also had five rebounds and three assists.

SWE was led by Keishon Porter’s 11 points.

The Vikings will now face Farmville Central, which has steamrolled through the 2A ranks this season. The Jaguars, who are averaging 91.2 points a game in 2018-19, have scored more than 90 or more points in a game 18 times this season and more than 100 points in a game six times.

“We know we have a really, really tough task in front of us,” Tyndall said. “(Farmville) is very good; they can score at every position and they’re very active on defense. … They’ve had an incredible season. We’re going to have to be really locked in and play well in a tough environment.”

In the girls’ game, Kinston used a balanced scoring effort to offset the performances of Roanoke Rapids’ starting senior backcourt of Anna Vann (26 points) and Michelle Stewart (16), who scored all but two of the Yellow Jackets’ points.

Junior forward Anzaria Cobb was dominant inside for Kinston, finishing with 13 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots. Junior guards Michyla Dove (12 points) and Taliyah Jones (10) were the other Vikings in double digits.

Kinston coach Christopher Bradshaw said his Vikings played their game plan to perfection, allowing Vann and Stewart to get their points while shutting the rest of the Yellow Jackets down. He was impressed, though, that his guards effectively shut down Vann after halftime, holding her to only seven points on 2-of-11 shooting.

“We wanted everyone else to have to beat us,” Bradshaw said. “But our second-half adjustment, when we went box-and-1 on (Vann) really wore her down.”

Bradshaw and the Vikings have history with Andrews – the Red Raiders knocked Kinston out of the state playoffs in 2016.

“We’ll do what we’ve done from Day 1, play good defense,” Bradshaw said.

GIRLS

Kinston 61, Roanoke Rapids 44

RR       16        10        10        8          --         44

K          17        12        16        16        --         61

Roanoke Rapids: Anna Vann 26, Michelle Stewart 16, Carpenter 2. Kinston: Anzaria Cobb 13, Michyla Dove 12, Taliyah Jones 10, S. Jones 7, Lee 6, Powell 6, Rivers 3, Sutton 2, Baker 2.

BOYS

Kinston 59, Southwest Edgecombe 45

SWE    7          13        7          18        --         45

K          10        27        8          14        --         59

Southwest Edgecombe: Keishon Porter 11, Lewis 8, Mayo 6, Collins 5, Dunn 4, Sledge 3, Hinton 2, Ruffin 2, Wilkins 2, Dickens 2. Kinston: Dontrez Styles 16, Judah McBynum 14, Isaac Parson 11, Roberts 4, Koonce 4, Davis 4, Wooten 2, London 2, Evans 2.