The Red Level Tigers’ (3-0) varsity boys basketball team continued their perfect start to the season with a 50-33 win over the Kinston Bulldogs Tuesday night in Red Level.

 

Kinston got on the board first to start the contest, but a 3-pointer from Devon Dexter quickly gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

 

Dexter got a tip in few minutes later, but after the end of one Kinston was on top 8-5.

 

Javarius Grooms came out firing to start the second period and buried a 3-pointer to knot the game at 8-8.

 

A 1-for-2 effort at the free throw line from Dameyune Scott put Red Level up 9-8 with 6:38 left before halftime.

 

Dexter remained with hot hand burying a 3-pointer and then going 2-for-2 at the line to give the Tigers a 16-10 lead.

 

Kinston then battled back with four-straight points from Colby Sumblin to cut the lead down to 16-14.

 

In the final two minutes of the second period, the Tigers offense heated up with 3-pointers from Scott and Dexter and 1 point from Jeffery Perdue to give Red Level a 23-14 lead at halftime.

 

Red Level struggled to get things started in the third period and four points from Sumblin and Lake Clark cut Red Level’s lead down to 23-22 with 1:55 left in the period.

 

Ontaryo Nearor then converted a layup for the Tigers to go back up 25-23, but a 3-pointer from the Bulldogs tied the game up 25-25 with one minute left in the third.

 

Scott came up with three big points to close out the third to put Red Level on top 28-25 heading into the final period.

 

The Tigers came racing out to start the fourth period with a quick bucket from Nearor followed by a 2-for-2 trip at the free throw line by Dexter.

 

After Dexter’s free throws, Scott came up with a steal around half court and then converted a layup to build on to the Red Level advantage.

 

Dexter followed with another perfect trip to the charity stripe to give the Tigers a 36-25 lead with 6:07 left in the ball game.

 

Alex Turner then knocked down a 3-pointer for Kinston, but a four-straight points from Dexter, including another 2-for-2 trip at the free throw line, put the Tigers up 40-28.

 

Layups from Grooms and Nearor extended the Tigers’ lead up to 44-33 with just less than two minutes remaining.

 

Nearor, Dexter, Perdue and Joe Arnold each scored in the final two minutes of the game to give Red Level a 50-33 victory.

 

Dexter led the Tigers with 18 points in the contest and Nearor finished with 8 points.

 

“We played well overall, but we had two bad quarters where we only averaged 5 points,” Red Level head coach Allen Catrett said. “We did have two offensively productive quarters as well. Overall, we didn’t shoot the ball well, but that is going to happen sometimes. You are going to have off nights on offense, but you can’t have them on defense. I was proud of them for finding a way to win at the end. I think that is a sign of maturity, a couple of years ago and we probably would have hung our heads and gave up, but we kept fighting and good things happened in the fourth.”

 

Red Level will be back in action on Thursday night at 7:30 when the take on Straughn in the opening round of the 2015 Straughn Christmas Tournament.

 

In B-team action, Kinston topped Red Level 39-31. Matthew Coleman led the scoring for Red Level with 10 points. Kade Green finished with 8 points and Cale Mancill had 6 points. Jacob Catrett finished with 3 points. Chance Russell and Ranisey Morrow each finished with 2 points.