Linden blasts Akron to open season

AKRON — Linden opened its basketball season with a 59-44 road win over the Akron High Rams Tuesday.

The Patriots led 19-11 after the first quarter and 28-19 at halftime. Linden maintained its lead throughout, opening the margin to double digits in the fourth quarter.

“Our defense stood up and helped our transition,” Linden coach Royce McKinney said.

Dequan Charleston led the way with 12 points for the Patriots. Savon Parker, Antonio Baldwin and Tywan Smith each scored 11 for Linden in the win.

The Pats now get a week to prepare for the second game of the McKinney era as they are set to host Thomasville in the home opener next Tuesday.

“I hope to see our guys keep developing and getting better,” McKinney said. “We played hard but we didn’t play as smart as we needed to. We need to keep working on the little things and executing our game plan, which is defense first and offense second.”