VALDOSTA – Senior wing Darmarcus Black slashed, dashed and dunked his way to 27 points and five rebounds to lead the Lowndes Vikings (4-0) to a 78-52 win over the Flagler Palm Coast Bulldogs (0-1) to close the first day of the Charles Cooper Invitational Monday night.

The Vikings pushed the pace, turned defense into offense and drilled nine 3-pointers as they won their fourth consecutive game to tip-off the young season.

“That’s what we do. That’s the kind of team we are this year,” Vikings head coach Reshon Benjamin said. “Coming into the offseason, me and the staff sat down and we talked about how much we were losing, who was coming back and what was gonna be our identity. Every team wants to have an identity and that’s who we are.

“The kids come in and they literally live in this gym. They’re always getting up shots. They’re always critiquing and holding each other accountable. Tonight, just as every other night we’ve played, we shot the ball pretty well.”

Black did his damage in only three quarters as he poured in 12 of his 27 points in the third quarter.

“He’s a ball player. He’s got some uncanny ability that you don’t really have to coach. When he gets above the rim, he’s really uncontestable when he gets in the air. Any time we can get that and a little bit extra from him, it’s gonna be a good day. We talk about rebounding, flying around on defense…on top of the freakish athleticism that he brings. Then you combine that with the shooting and the intensity of Shop getting downhill, we’re going to be a tough team to beat. He’s a senior. He’s our leader. He’s the guy that gets us going. When he does those kinds of things, it makes the game a whole lot easier for everybody else.”

Black was not alone in his dominance as senior big man Landon New turned in a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

New scored 10 points in the second half, taking over the scoring load for the Vikings. After spending much of his first two years on the Lowndes varsity as a perimeter-oriented big man, New’s new role as a senior requires him to be more assertive and physical in the paint – combining his perimeter touch with utilizing his 6-foot-7 frame to exploit size mismatches and impact games on the backboards.

“He’s taken the onus of being a really good player,” Benjamin said of New. “He’s probably been the one guy that’s been the most consistent in these four games we’ve played. He knows his role, he knows what we expect out of him and he does it to a T. The separator between him and most guys is he does a good job playing the game between his ears. He’s really smart. If you watch, he’s never pressing. He’s never forcing. He’s never in a position where he looks rushed. He takes his time, he takes good shots and he makes good shots and he did that tonight.

“The progression with him is not trying to float around on the perimeter, but he was down there banging. He finished with (10 boards). He’s come a long way and I think the biggest thing is him taking the onus of making sure he has a good senior year and he’s playing the game well between his ears. As he continues to progress and play hard, he’s another element that we have to go along with the shooters and to go along with Darmarcus Black. There’s a lot for other teams to have to game plan and scout and try to guard against us.”

The Vikings got three 3-pointers from junior Ruben Compton in the first quarter. Sophomore point guard Sam Shoptaw added eight points and six assists while Romulus Khalil came off the bench to score seven and Keshawn Arthur splashed two triples for six points in mop-up minutes.

Black opened the third quarter with back-to-back buckets as he hit a 3 to put the Vikings up 42-23 then picked off an errant pass and went coast-to-coast for a dunk to make it a 21-point lead early in the period. Black continued his assault on the rim in the third with three more dunks – the last following up a 3-point hit by Arthur with a tip dunk off of an offensive rebound to make it 62-38.

Black tried to dunk once more but drew a hard foul on the Bulldogs. Black split the pair of free throws to make it 63-38 in favor of the Vikings after three quarters.

The Vikings led 39-23 at halftime as a 3-pointer from New and a three-point play by Shoptaw gave Lowndes its largest lead of the half at 39-20 before FPC’s Matthew Rodriguez knocked down a 3 with 3 seconds left to end the half.

Led by an aggressive Black and the sharp shooting of Compton, the Vikings jumped out to an early 17-1 lead as Black hammered home a two-handed jam followed by a 3 from Compton and another slam from Black plus the foul.

Though the Bulldogs hit a pair of 3s to cut into the deficit, Black stuck back an offensive rebound then threw down a monster slam with 3 seconds left in the quarter to put Lowndes up 21-7 after one period.

The Vikings opened the lead up even further in the second quarter as Shoptaw splashed a triple to open the quarter. A steal and layup by Jeremiah Henderson and a free throw by Kam Jackson made it 27-11 with 4:23 to go before the halfttime. A 3 from Rodriguez cut it to 27-14, but a pair of free throws by Black and an offensive rebound and putback from New keyed another spurt as the Vikings pushed the lead to 36-18 on a 3 from New.

Rodriguez led the Bulldogs, knocking down five 3-pointers for a team-high 15 points in the game. Freshman big man Xavier Ortiz finished with 11 points and Gerod Tolbert added eight points in the loss.

Led by Rodriguez, the Bulldogs finished with nine 3-pointers in the game.

“Of course there’s some things we need to clean up. We gave them too many second chance points, gave them too many wide open looks, we had some bunnies and some missed free throws especially in the first half,” Benjamin said. “For us, we’re always looking ahead. Not just trying to beat Flagler tonight, but still looking at playing a good team like Campbell tomorrow and making sure we fare well against a team that’s gonna be considered a playoff team later down the stretch. It’s always good to get a win, but you still want to take a look at how much more you could’ve done and how much better you can be.”

UP NEXT

The Vikings host the Campbell Spartans out of Smyrna, Ga. Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. to finish the Charles Cooper Invitational.

PEACHTREE RIDGE 55,

LOWNDES GIRLS 43

The Lowndes Vikettes (1-1) couldn’t overcome a disastrous, turnover-ridden third quarter and a stagnant fourth-quarter offense in a 55-43 loss to Peachtree Ridge (4-0) in the opener.

Peachtree Ridge took its largest lead of 13 points in the game on a 3-pointer from Jaelyn Cardenas with 2:53 left in the game.

Just 31 seconds later, Cardenas fouled Faith Johnson and took an elbow to the midsection. As she was crumbled to the floor in pain, Cardenas was heckled by a group of fans. Cardenas shouted an obscenity in the direction of the rowdy fans and drew a technical foul.

The Vikettes would only get as close as nine points the rest of the way.

Trailing 28-21 at the half, the Vikettes were hit with a rash of turnovers in the period – coughing the ball up 10 times in the third alone.

Despite the miscues, the Vikettes were still within seven after a layup from Longwood commit Otaifo Esenabhalu off of a feed from Aryana Thomas to make it 40-33 late in the third.

Peachtree combo guard Sanaa Tripp sliced through the Lowndes defense to score on a layup to end the third to push the lead to 42-33 heading to the fourth.

Esenabhalu scored 15 points to lead the Vikettes. Point guard Kaci Demps added 11 points while Aryana Thomas chipped in with six points in the loss.

Tripp led all scorers with 19 points for the Lions. Senior power forward Aaliyah Hunt added 13 points and stellar rim protection. During a sequence late in the game, Hunt sent back shot attempts by Kimora Wade and two by Thomas with just over a minute left.

UP NEXT

The Vikettes return to action Tuesday against a team to be named later on the final day of the Charles Cooper Invitational.