Chargers spoil Hawks’ program-opener with 30-point thrashing in 1st installment of county rivalry

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PITTSBORO — Seaforth sophomore phenom Jarin Stevenson might be getting all the press clips, but Northwood sophomore point guard Drake Powell doubled his offensive output as the Chargers threw a 72-42 wet blanket on the Hawks’ first-ever men’s basketball game.

Powell punctuated the showdown with multiple slam dunks among his game-high 26 points that electrified the partisans in the full house as newly opened Seaforth unveiled its basketball court last Tuesday. He was one of three Chargers in double digits as junior power forward Max Frazier tossed in 16 points and sophomore point guard Frederico Whitaker added a dozen himself.

Stevenson, the nationally scouted 6-foot-9 prodigy whose parents both played Division I basketball, was the only Seaforth player in double digits, with 13 points. He has already received college offers from some of the state’s most notable schools: North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake Forest.

N.C. State head basketball coach Kevin Keatts was in attendance at Tuesday’s game to catch a glimpse of both Stevenson and Powell.

And after his performance against the Hawks, Powell announced via his Twitter account last Friday that Keatts had offered him a scholarship to play for the Wolfpack, signifying his first major college offer.

“Thank you to @CoachKeattsNCSU for offering me a scholarship! #WPN #GoPack,” Powell tweeted.

The Hawks’ offensive engine sputtered and misfired throughout the game, resulting in bad passes that led to turnovers and steals, many of which allowed Northwood to put points on the board. On the other side of the court, the Chargers were crisper with their execution, had much better ball control and used their overpowering size to dominate the boards.

“We’re disappointed, but I don’t think we were really expecting to win,” said Seaforth’s first-year head coach Jarod Stevenson, a former star forward for the University of Richmond, two-decade professional basketball player overseas and father of Jarin Stevenson. “We wanted to win, we were hoping to win, but they went to the state championship last year and they have a size advantage, so it was a lot of stuff working against us to get a win.

“I just told the guys I was proud of the way they fought,” he continued. “What could we do? We couldn’t pass, and we couldn’t rebound, so that’s two very important parts of the game. We were definitely at a disadvantage.”

Northwood’s pillars of power included Powell, 6-foot-6; junior center Kenan Parrish, 6-foot-11; Frazier, 6-foot-8; and sophomore small forward Jake Leighton, 6-foot-5. Only Stevenson and 6-foot-5 Chris Walker were in the same height neighborhood for Seaforth.

“We did have some size on them,” Northwood head coach Matt Brown said. “We wanted to make our presence known on the inside. That was the goal and I think we did a pretty good job.”

Jarod Stevenson said Northwood has more seasoned players who are athletically talented. His son, a starter for Northwood last year as a freshman, is the only Seaforth player with high school varsity experience.

“The rest of the guys never experienced anything like this,” Jarod Stevenson said. “We had a good crowd. That’s probably the first time any of these guys played before a crowd like this. And then you had the pressure of Northwood’s defense and it was real tough for them to overcome.”

Seaforth has only been practicing together for 14 days, too short a time to achieve all that needed addressing. That includes simulating the type of pressure that Northwood applies, which stymied the Hawks’ playmaking and passes.

“Hopefully it’s a learning experience,” Jarod Stevenson said. Despite the loss, he was pleased that his players showed hustle all the way down to the final buzzer.

“The offense wasn’t that good, but they continued to fight and show a lot of heart, so I’m proud of them for that,” he said.

Brown had as much to be happy about as he had to critique after the game.

“They stuck with the game plan of what we want to do, but still they were sloppy at times,” he said. “We’ve got to play with more discipline. We’ve got to clean up a bunch of stuff. Our outside defense was nonexistent today. We fouled way too much. So we’ve got to clean it up before next week.”

After opening against 2A Seaforth, the 3A Chargers tangle with 4A Wakefield (1-0) on Tuesday. Seaforth plays 3A Harnett Central (1-1) the same night.

“We pride ourselves on defense and that’s why I’m a little upset,” Brown said. “Our goal is to hold teams to 35 points a game and we didn’t do that tonight. We got a little three-happy at times, too.”

He attributed some of the flubs and lapses to first-game jitters.

Brown expects Powell, Frazier and Whitaker to propel the team in upcoming games just as they did against Seaforth.

“Those three guys kind of get us going,” he said. “Very reliable. They’re our team leaders and they’re pretty efficient both offensively and defensively.”

While Seaforth has been at a disadvantage in its sports programs because it only houses freshmen and sophomores in its first year, Brown didn’t consider that a factor in the game’s outcome.

“To be honest, we started four sophomores so we’re pretty much the same age as they are,” he said. Frazier and Parrish are the only juniors on the roster and Seth Lewis, the lone senior, is injured and not playing.

Brown believes the addition of Seaforth will add some spice to basketball life in Chatham County.

“It’s great for the county, it’s great for the community,” he said. “It’s exciting. And it was a great crowd tonight.”

The Northwood section of that crowd had a lot to cheer about early. The Chargers went on a 10-0 run to open the game, fueled by Whitaker pouring in two of his trio of three-pointers and Powell slamming home his first dunk of the game. Seaforth didn’t get on the board until the 4:38 mark of the first period, when Stevenson hit a basket and picked up a foul to make it 10-3.

Northwood stretched the lead to 20-3 with another 10-point run that included a dunk by Frazier before Stevenson drained a three-pointer. Powell and sophomore Gus Fisher hit three-pointers in the second period to help extend the lead to 39-24.

Powell tossed in eight of his points in the third period, while he and Whitaker put up three-pointers in the final frame to keep the scoring machine humming.