CHOCOWINITY — Thanks to a suffocating press, a well-balanced offense that provided five different scorers in double-figures and a dominating third quarter that saw the Seahawks push their lead to as many as fourteen points, the Southside boys basketball team held off a fourth-quarter rally attempt from Bear Grass Charter on Friday night to come away with a 70-62 win.

“Great effort tonight from my guys defensively. I mean we had a couple of lapses in judgment and, for a lack of a better word, stupid mistakes, but we’re getting better. We’re getting better every game,” Southside head coach Sean White said. “I was very pleased. They played great tonight, an awesome game.”

Southside (3-2 1A Coastal Plains Conference), above .500 for the first time this season after the victory, started the game on a roll. Thanks to Ty Smith, Kevin White and Jalen Kirkman, who finished with 11, 14 and 14 points, respectively, the Seahawks built a 18-10 lead in the first quarter. But Bear Grass (2-2 1A Atlantic 5 Conference) closed the opening period on a run to cut Southside’s lead to two points at 18-16.

Bear Grass took the lead, 21-20, with 6:16 remaining in the second quarter, and the two teams battled back and forth, swapping the lead several times in the second. A 3-pointer from Hundley Stallings gave the Seahawks the lead, 33-32, and Southside closed the half with a flourish to lead 40-35 at the break.

The Seahawks really took control of the game in the third quarter, coming up with a turnover on nearly every Bear Grass possession and breaking upcourt so quickly and so often the game began to resemble a track meet. A big reason for Southside’s success in the third was due to an adjustment made in defending Bear Grass center Lelon Stoteberry.

“Made one adjustment where we put the backside forward in front of their big man to keep him from getting the ball. I think that’s what helped a lot,” White said. “That’s what helped us extend the lead anyway, was not let him get the ball inside. Because he’s a good kid, a great basketball player and he’s a great athlete.”

Thanks in part to the defensive adjustment, Southside held the Bears to just 10 points in the third quarter, while scoring 18 to build a 58-45 lead by the start of the fourth. Much of the Seahawks’ scoring in the period came from the bench, as Aeron Wright scored all seven of his points in the quarter and Daveion McCraw scored six of his 10.

Southside appeared to get a little too comfortable in the opening minutes of the fourth, as the Seahawks committed several turnovers and allowed Bear Grass to cut into their lead.

“We quit running our press break,” White said. “In the first half we were eating them up, throwing to the outside, throwing back to the guard cutting up the middle. I mean, we were breaking the press really good in the first half and it seems like right there in the fourth quarter we weren’t getting set, we weren’t getting in our press-break. And that’s really where the turnovers came from.”

But White called a timeout to settle his players down and it worked, as Southside responded with a run that gave the Seahawks 68-50 lead with 4:27 left in the game. But the Bears didn’t let off, keeping the Southside from scoring again until the final seconds, while slowly chipping away at the lead. Smith played a big part in making sure the Seahawks held on for the win, urging his teammates to slow down and remain calm.

White said the win was a good confidence builder as his team prepares to take on Northside tomorrow as part of the Northside Christmas Tournament.

“I feel a whole lot better,” White said. “I think that we’re in a better spot than we were last Friday this time, when we played Croatan.”

The Seahawks play the Panthers tomorrow at Northside at 7:30 p.m. in game two of the holiday tournament.