South Kent Outlasts Proctor

New Yorker Rob Thomas sits out due to an injury

KINGSTON, R.I. -- They say winning begets winning, but South Kent Head Coach Raphael Chillious might argue that the flip side of that equation is equally true.

After dropping 12 contests in a row (discounting a Jan. 28 forfeit victory), the Cardinals registered their first win since early January, outlasting a feisty Proctor Academy squad, 69-59 on Saturday night at the National Prep School Invitational.

South Kent appeared to be on the verge of blowing out Proctor on a couple of occasions during the second half, but the Cardinals never could truly deliver a knockout punch.

"It looks like you're going to win and pull away, but they just don't know how," noted Chillious.

South Kent opened up a 38-25 lead at the intermission, and used a 13-7 run out of the second half gate to take a commanding 51-32 lead with 11:58 remaining.

That's when Proctor's Jerome Dyson shifted his mentality from distributor to scorer. The UConn signee scored five points in a 12-3 burst as the Hornets shaved the deficit to 54-44 with 7:51 left.

"I try to get everyone involved in the game early," Dyson said. "Then later on in the game, that's when I try to go out and look to score."

The Cardinals appeared to restore order with a 10-4 run, aided by three successive Proctor turnovers, and assumed a 64-48 edge with 2:33 remaining. Perhaps the weight of the losing streak shook up South Kent's confidence down the stretch, as the Cardinal guards got loose with the ball to fan one last Hornet rally.

"We have good guards, but we don't have guards who have played at this level enough to know how to close somebody out," Chillious said.

Proctor scored the game's next 11 points, including back to back treys from guards Scott Robator and Dyson, to creep within 64-59 with 30 seconds to play.

Guard Lorenzo Keeler, who had turned the ball over moments earlier, redeemed himself by canning a pair of pressure free throws with 25 seconds left as the Cardinals went up 66-59.

Keeler knocked down five of nine three-point attempts and paced the Cards with 22 points.

Dyson, who led all scorers with 27 points, recorded the last of his whopping 12 turnovers on the ensuing inbound play. South Kent took advantage when wing forward Jin Soo Kim hit one of two free throws with 17 ticks left for an eight point advantage.

The Cardinals survived 32 turnovers and the absence of leading scorer Rob Thomas (sprained ankle) and point guard Norm Nixon, Jr. (sprained ankle). Pitt signee Gilbert Brown struggled to make shots, but scored most of his 10 points via aggressive drives to the rim.

While Dyson's turnovers proved costly, so did the poor free throw shooting of bouncy 6-6 junior forward Elijah Whitehead. Whitehead became an offensive factor stalking the baseline in the second half, finishing with 14 points, but he misfired on eight of 14 charity stripe attempts as Proctor attempted to mount a second half comeback.