Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

James J. Lidington

VIRGINIA BEACH

William Fricke hit two free throws with 10.3 seconds remaining to propel Isle of Wight Academy past Atlantic Shores 55-54 here on Thursday, Feb. 14.

The win was the first for the Chargers (14-11, 9-5 in the Metro Conference) on the Seahawks’ home court since Shores joined the Metro Athletic Conference in 2010.

Shores called a timeout with 7.1 seconds remaining to draw up a last-second shot, which went for naught as time expired.

IWA’s Russ Wells led all scorers with 17 points; William Fricke added 16, including 12-for-14 from the line; Worthy finished with 15. The Chargers trailed by as many as 7 points in the second half.

IWA was drubbed by the Seahawks, 62-38, when the teams met for the first time this season eight days ago. They seemed determined to make this game a similarly lopsided affair, jumping out to a 12-2 lead in the game’s first 5 minutes.

But Worthy’s 3-pointer kicked off an 8-4 run by IWA to cut the Seahawks’ lead to 16-10 after a quarter.

Isle of Wight eventually fought back into a tie, 20-20, when Fricke made two foul shots with 3:55 remaining before halftime. They would go on to take a 29-28 lead, their first of the game, when reserve Ethan Willette hit a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left in the third period.

IWA got down by 7 points, 41-24, but began its final comeback with a field goal by Fricke with 3:22 left in the third and a foul shot, also by the lanky IWA junior, at the 3:13 mark.

Willette made one of two foul shots to cut the Seahawks’ lead to 3, 41-38, with 2:42 remaining. Fricke and Worthy combined for 2-of-3 free throw shooting to knot the score at 41 at the end of the third period.

IWA built its largest lead late in the game when Fricke hit a pair of free throws to make it 53-48 with 2:14 left in the game. The Seahawks scored the next 6 points to take a brief lead, 54-53, with :30 left. Seahawks’ Logan Rawlings missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 13 ticks remaining. Worthy was fouled on the ensuing IWA possession to send the speedy IWA junior to the line with 10.3 seconds left.

IWA finished the game 21-26 from the foul line. Shores only converted on 6 of 10 trips to the charity stripe.

• • •

IWA fell for a second-straight time to Portsmouth Christian, 59-56, at PCS on Tuesday, Feb. 12.

The Chargers led into the second quarter, but a 3:00 scoring drought put IWA behind while PCS took a lead, 16-15. Isle of Wight took a late lead, 52-50, when Hunter Hayden and Russ Wells hits back-to-back 3-pointers with 4:16 left in the game. But PCS scored the next 5 points to go up 55-52 with 1:56 to play.

The Patriots’ Theo Wheeler hit two free throws with 15.2 seconds left to put PCS ahead for good.

The Chargers will face Hampton Christian at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, in the first round of the Metro Conference Tournament at Atlantic Shores. The two teams split their regular-season meetings, with both squads winning easily on their home courts.

JAMES J. LIDINGTON is a teacher at Isle of Wight Academy. He can be reached at 357-3866.