The New Kent Trojans were the 80-43 winner over the Bruton Panthers when they last played one another back in December of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. New Kent took a 65-59 hit to the loss column at the hands of Bruton. New Kent has been going strong on the season, but this is now their second loss in a row.
New Kent lost on Wednesday despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Dillon Mickles, who scored ten points. Another player making a difference was Marty Wray, who scored eight points.
Bruton was led to victory by Khamani Phillips and Brandon Freeman. Phillips scored 15 points along with five assists and three steals, while Freeman scored 12 points along with seven assists and six rebounds. Freeman hasn't dropped below two steals for eight straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Kareem Davis, who scored 12 points.
New Kent's loss dropped their record down to 12-4. As for Bruton, they have been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. New Kent will square off against Grafton at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Grafton has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games. As for Bruton, they won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Tabb at 7:00 p.m. on January 25th. Tabb will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Virginia Rankings (they are ranked 319th, while Bruton is ranked 80th).