AHOSKIE – There was plenty of offense for Hertford County.

Bears’ skipper Charles Simmons was more impressed with the defense.

“I was pleased with our defensive effort tonight,” Simmons said after HCHS defeated First Flight 80-42 Friday night. “It was one of our best over-all defensive efforts for all four quarters.”

Lamar Monger paced the Bears with 22 points, but got significant offensive help from Antonio Vaughan’s 18 points and Marcus Burnell’s 13.

“We also did a better job running our half court offensive sets,” Simmons said about his club’s offensive prowess.

First Flight held a slim 3-2 advantage early in the contest, but the Bears rolled off nine unanswered points to grab an 11-3 advantage. Monger was the dominant force during the spurt with seven of the nine points.

First Flight was able to keep it from getting away in the first quarter thanks to a triple and deuce consecutively by Kegan Saunders.

The Bears led 21-12 after one quarter.

The Nighthawks had the first score of the second quarter, but the Bears went on a 19-2 tear that all but sealed the outcome of the game before the intermission.

Burnell sparked the run with his hoop which was followed by a three-pointer off the hands of Shawn Reid and a bucket by Vaughan.

After a pair of free throws by Patrick McCarthy got the Nighthawks within 28-16, the Bears continue to pull away.

Monger hit a hoop and a free throw before Vaughan buried a triple and Jordan Jones scored on a field goal at the 4:33 mark of the quarter.

Burnell added two hoops to make it 40-16 with 3:10 to go. HCHS went on to lead 42-19 at the half.

The Bears continued to pull away when the third quarter opened, getting back-to-back hoops from Vaughan and a pair of free throws from Jamal Jones to push their edge to 48-19.

Later First Flight put together a 7-2 spurt to close within 52-28, but HCHS then rolled off seven unanswered of their own to push their lead to 59-28. It was 60-30 after three quarters.

The Bears improved to 15-2 overall and stayed unbeaten (7-0) in the Northeastern Coastal Conference. They will continue league play tonight (Tuesday) with a road trip to Northeastern.

HCHS (80): Lamar Monger n 22, Antonio Vaughan n 18, Marcus Burnell n 13, Deshawn Outlaw n 9, Jordan Jones n 7, Shawn Reid n 5, Kysean Chamblee n 3, Jamal Jones n 2, Michael Stephenson n 1

First Flight (42): Anders Jacobsen n 13, Patrick McCarthy n 10, Kegan Saunders n 8, George Mazza n 6, Sam Smith n 2, Joey Maccio n 2, Shawn Dwyer – 1