AHOSKIE – The future of Northeast Academy basketball appears bright.

Both of the school’s junior varsity teams captured first place trophies here Saturday during the championship round of the 12th annual Lt. Nick Brantley Scholarship Tournament held in the Ridgecroft School gym.

In the jayvee girls title tilt, Northeast turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, using a 10-4 run in the third quarter, to turn a narrow 18-14 halftime lead into a 32-22 win over Pungo Academy.

Allie Liverman scored six of her game-high 17 points in the pivotal third period to lead the Lady Eagles.

Emalee Jones added seven points for the winners, who improved to 3-1 overall. Jessie Martin and Hannah Story chipped in four points each.

Josie Hadnell led Pungo with 10 points, six of which came in the first quarter that ended with Northeast holding a slim 9-8 lead. Jenny Harris added four points for the Lady Raiders.

The jayvee boys game began as a blow-out, but ended as a thriller as Northeast, with two starters disqualified due to five fouls each, hung on down the stretch and pulled out a 49-48 win.

Northeast – thanks to a pair of baskets from Josh Simmons and one by Kendall Timberlake early in the third quarter plus three hoops from Alex Galloway later in the period – led by double digits (43-32) entering the fourth quarter.

That advantage grew to 14 (46-32) early in the final period thanks to a three-pointer by Jon Stephenson. However, Timberlake and Simmons each fouled out over a two-minute stretch, igniting the fuse on Pungo’s furious comeback.

A three-pointer from Henry Allen started the Raiders rally. Miller Lee then reeled off eight straight points in just 48 seconds, to include a three-pointer and then a deuce off a steal and lay-up. By the time Davis Lee hit a basket with 1:57 left, Pungo had drawn to within a single point at 46-45.

Fifty seconds later, Pungo took its first lead of the game at 48-47 thanks to a basket by Wilson Sawyer.

The momentum swung back to Northeast at the charity stripe where single free throws each by Brandyn Polson and Galloway staked the Eagles to a 49-48 lead with 34 seconds left.

Northeast sealed the win with a defensive stop when Kaleb Bradley stole a pass on the baseline with one second remaining.

Northeast, who improved to 6-0 with the victory, was led by Stephenson and Galloway, who scored 18 and 17 points respectively. Polson added eight to the winning effort.

Pungo – who trailed 12-0 at the end of the first quarter, but rallied to within 30-20 at halftime – placed three in double figures: Miller Lee (17), Devin Cadle (13), and Sawyer (11).