DECATUR — Northeast Lauderdale gets their first district win of the season.

 

Behind a strong second half defense and the play of B.J. Portis and Addison Baskin, the Trojans rallied past Newton County 49-42 in a key Region 4-4A contest Monday night.

 

Northeast Lauderdale has a quick turnaround as the Trojans host rival West Lauderdale in Region 4-4A play on Tuesday night.

 

“The message at halftime was to play better defense and we challenged them to step up and the kids answered,” said Northeast Lauderdale coach Lewis Lightsey. “Our team defense and rebounding improved and then offensively we made big shots.”

 

This game was basically a tale of two halves.

 

The first quarter was back-and-forth that saw Newton County hold a 17-12 lead at the end of the opening frame.

 

Northeast Lauderdale opened up the second quarter on a 7-3 run to cut the lead to down to 20-19, but the Cougars responded with a 12-4 run for the remaining of the quarter to take a 32-23 lead at halftime.

 

The second half is when things turned as the Trojans held the Cougars to score just 10 points in the third quarter. Northeast Lauderdale outscored Newton County 10-4 to cut the Cougar lead down to 36-33 heading into the final quarter of the game.

 

In the fourth quarter the Trojans got a three-pointer from Troy Brown with 5:56 left to tie the game 38-38, and a Steven Lightsey floater gave Northeast Lauderdale a 40-38 lead.

 

After Newton County’s Dasan King hit a lay-up to tie the game at 40-40, Brown and Baskin each made back-to-back baskets to give the Trojans a 44-40 lead with 1:39 remaining.

 

A Portis lay-up with 1:02 left gave Northeast Lauderdale a 46-42 lead, and the Trojans where able to run the clock out from that point.

 

Portis had 17 points to lead the Trojans, while Baskin added 15 points for Northeast Lauderdale (10-8, 1-2 Region 4-4A).

 

“B.J. stepped up for us and was able to get in the lane and get a lot of put backs. In the paint for small guy, he can really play and did a great job tonight,” Lightsey said. “All of our four big scorers came up with big shots all game. This is huge win especially on the road in this division. Five really good basketball teams and our first three district games were on the road, so to get a win on the road is huge. We got three district games this week, so this is a big week for us.”

 

Jaylen Torguson had 18 points to lead Newton County, while Keaton Gray added 11 points for the Cougars (9-6, 1-3).

 

“We just struggled offensively in the second half and didn’t make shots,” said Newton County coach Chance Young. “We got to play better defensively, and tonight, they did a better job rebounding. This district is really tough, and we got to protect home court and tonight we didn’t get it done.”