ELIZABETH CITY – Payback is sweet.

Hertford County suffered their only Northeastern Coastal Conference setback this season when Northeastern upset the Bears in Ahoskie earlier this season.

The Bears, who were tied with Northeastern and Pasquotank atop the league standings heading into Tuesday, returned the favor when they paid a return visit to the Eagles.

Hertford County placed five in double figures and broke the century mark with a 104-91 victory that helped them stay in first place. The Bears own a tiebreaker because they beat Pasquotank earlier this season.

&uot;We did a really good job offensively in transition – pushing the ball up the floor and making the right decision,&uot; veteran HCHS coach Charles Simmons said. &uot;We were focused and ready to play tonight.

&uot;This was a huge road win for us, especially getting all five starters in double figures,&uot; he added.

Tydreke Powell led the way for the Bears, hitting for 22 points, a single point better than Antonio Branch’s 21 points. Lamar Monger scored 18 for the Bears with LaMarcus Bond adding 15 and LaMarcus Jenkins contributing 14 points.

The teams both got off to a fast start offensively, scoring a combined 46 points in the first quarter, leading to a 23-all deadlock.

The Bears begin to pull away in the second quarter, rallying from a 28-25 deficit by going on an 11-2 spurt.

Monger had the first basket of the run, followed by a Powell hoop. Jeremy Banks interrupted the scoring briefly with a hoop, but Branch buried a triple followed by free throws from Monger and a basket from Powell to make it 36-30.

Two Deronte McNeil free throws got the Eagles within four (36-32), but Wayne Pryor and Bond hit back-to-back three-pointers to push the Bears to a 10-point lead (42-32) with 2:10 to play in the first half.

Northeastern got consecutive hoops from Javon Brumsey and McNeil before the teams exchanged hoops to close out the second quarter with HCHS ahead 49-41.

The Bears started the second half with six consecutive points, getting a hoop from Jenkins and four points from Branch to grab a 55-41 lead.

With the lead near the same level, the Bears had another 6-0 stretch midway through the third quarter with Branch again hitting for four, this time coupled with a Powell bucket to make it 64-45 with 5:29 to play in the period.

Hertford County got one more 6-0 spurt in the third, getting four points from Chris Mizelle to go with a Powell hoop as they grabbed a 76-59 lead heading into the fourth period.

Northeastern was able to cut into the lead some in the fourth period, but never got close enough to mount a serious threat.

The win puts the Bears at 16-2 overall and 7-1 in the league heading into Friday’s road date with Edenton.

Hertford County (104): Tydreke Powell – 22, Antonio Branch – 21, Lamar Monger – 18, LaMarcus Bond – 15, LaMarcus Jenkins – 14, W. Pryor – 6, C. Mizelle – 4, M. Burnell – 3, M. Henneghan – 1

Northeastern (91): Jeremy Banks – 31, Deronte McNeil – 20, Javon Brumsey – 19, Matt Dixon – 11, S. Morgan – 7, S. Lilley – 3