Mar 2

Mar 2 Kinston's season ends at undefeated Farmville Central

Photo by William “Bud” Hardy / Neuse News

FARMVILLE — Kinston’s margin for error was already razor-thin.

With its two leading scorers battling foul trouble, the margin became non-existent.

Limited minutes from Dontrez Styles and Judah McBynum played right into Farmville Central’s hands, helping the undefeated and top-seeded Jaguars stave off the Vikings 78-66 in the third round of the state 2A playoffs Saturday at the raucous, sold-out Jaguar Den.

Photo by William “Bud” Hardy / Neuse News

“We needed everything to go right and obviously that didn’t happen,” Kinston coach Perry Tyndall said. “Some of the foul calls could’ve gone either way, but that’s just a part of the game. The fouls didn’t help, but it wasn’t the only reason we lost.”

Playing less than half of the game’s 32 minutes, Styles still managed a team-high 20 points. His absence was especially noticeable on the defensive end.

“Dontrez is our primary rim-protector, and without him out there Farmville got very comfortable taking the ball to the basket,” Tyndall said. “We didn’t do a good enough job stopping their dribble penetration, and we didn’t do a very good job on the glass.”

Styles picked up his second foul just two minutes in to the game, missed the rest of the first quarter, and then was whistled for No. 3 with 3:43 left in the opening half.

The Jaguars (29-0) scored the last six points of the first quarter with Styles on the bench, and then opened its first double-digit lead after Styles picked up his third.

After Styles received his fourth foul with 3:11 left in the third quarter, the Jaguars went on another 6-0 run to build its largest lead, a 54-37 advantage late in the frame.

Kinston got as close as eight in the fourth quarter but could never get over the hump.

“I’m proud of the way we fought back,” Tyndall said. “A lot of teams would have folded down by 17 to a team as good as Farmville Central. We kept chipping away but missed a few open looks that could have made things interesting.”

McBynum, Kinston’s primary outside threat, finished with 12 points, 4 in the second half.

The Jaguar’s high-scoring duo of N. C. State commit Terquavion Smith, just a sophomore, and junior Justin Wright, did what they’ve done all season, score in bunches.

Smith sank 5 3-pointers and led all scorers with 26 points. Wright consistently got to the basket and the foul line, tallying 22 points, including a 12-of-14 performance from the charity stripe.

Farmville also controlled the boards by a 45-32 margin.

“We had a few defensive breakdowns, but overall we held a team averaging 91 points a game to well below that number; we played well enough defensively to win,” Tyndall said. “Give Farmville credit. They’re so explosive and can attack you offensively in so many ways. We just couldn’t seem to get a big stop every time we made a run to get back in the game.”

Farmville advances to Tuesday’s fourth round and will host Vance County. Kinston finishes the season with a stellar 24-7 mark.