All season long Northeastern coach Ronald Nixon has said his team was about defense. On Friday, the Eagles proved it.

Northeastern turned up the defensive heat in the second half, taking advantage of a depleted Pasquotank roster, to claim a 53-47 victory over rival Pasquotank at the R.L. Vaughan Center.

The win in the regular-season finale pulled the Eagles into a second-place tie with Pasquotank in the Northeastern Coastal Conference standings. Because none of the tiebreaker scenarios could separate the two teams, the league’s athletic directors drew lots and Northeastern will be awarded the No. 2 seed and host the first round of the conference tournament on Tuesday.

However, the bigger prize, the NCC’s No. 1 seed in the 2A state playoffs, is still up for grabs between the Eagles and Panthers. That will go to whichever team advances the furthest in the conference tournament.

“We have young, talented team, and I said we were going to be a roller coaster,” said Nixon, whose team has won five of its last six. “But I tell you what, all these guys out there, I have to give credit to them because they all have heart. They are a young crowd, but we’re linking together.”

On Friday, Pasquotank was without starting point guard Jacquan Respass, who is nursing an injured foot. Making matters worse, referees called a tight game early, resulting in a few quick fouls on both teams. The Panthers, though, were hurt the most as James Martin and Kyle Odum were each on the bench with two fouls midway through the first quarter.

Still, Pasquotank was able to maintain the lead throughout the first half as Naquan Gant carried load, scoring 14 points in the first two quarters.

Pasquotank led by as many as eight in the second period and settled for 29-26 lead at the break after a 7-2 burst by the Eagles closed the half.

Northeastern then made a halftime adjustment, going to a box-and-one on Gant in the third quarter with Karem Felton drawing the defensive assignment on the Panthers guard, that proved to be the difference.

“In the first half Gant was penetrating and doing what he wanted to do,” Nixon said. “We tried to improvise a little bit with the box-and-one to take away the scorer because the rest of them were struggling from the outside. I put my best defender on him and tried to frustrate him a little bit and (Felton) did a pretty good job of that.”

After scoring the first bucket of the third quarter, Pasquotank went on a seven-minute, 24-second scoreless drought. During that span, Northeastern scored 10 in a row to take a 36-31 lead.

“We hadn’t prepared for that change of defense and the guys were out there not ready for it and it hurt us,” Pasquotank coach Ray Burnham said. “I was trying to set it up for them, but the communication part just wasn’t working.

“(The bench) didn’t do bad when they got in, it was just that third quarter killed us. It took us way out of our game.”

After surviving the early foul trouble, Pasquotank battled back, taking a 44-43 lead on an Odum 3-pointer with 2:26 left. The Eagles came right back and Aaron Carver scored on a short jumper, then after a defensive stop, scored again on an offensive rebound putback.

Odum tied it at 47 with another 3-pointer with 1:13 to go.

The Eagles were not to be denied as Marquise Whidbee, who sat for a long stretch in the first half with foul trouble of his own, snuck in for an offensive rebound and layup with 55 seconds left that proved to be the game winner.

The Panthers missed shots on its next two possessions and Northeastern sealed it with two free throws each on one-and-one
opportunities from Travis McWilliams and Felton.

Gant scored 12 points, but was held scoreless in the second half.

“We had to come out (in the second half) and get things on our side,” said Felton, who scored a game-high 21 points. “They had one key player tonight. It’s a little tough because you have to stay focused on that one man and not what’s going on behind you. It’s basically trust in your teammates.”

Carver dominated the boards in the second half and finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, leading the Eagles to a 29-20 advantage on the glass.

Leon Walston scored 12 points to share team honors with Gant and Kyle Odum added 10.

Both teams begin NCC tournament play on Tuesday at Northeastern. Pasquotank will take on First Flight and Northeastern faces Currituck.

Should they each win, they would meet for a third time this season in the NCC semifinals on Wednesday. The winner of that game would win the top seeding for the 2A playoffs.

“It’s a whole new season,” Burnham said.