A balanced 2018-19 Buckingham County High School varsity boys basketball team pulled ahead early Friday night against visiting Central Lunenburg High School and benefited from strong defense on its way to a 69-17 blowout victory.

“I’m just happy with the way we played defense tonight,” Knights Head Coach Taylor Boyers said. “That’s going to be the key for us. That’s been our emphasis all preseason, and just like the way we played defense tonight, when we can do that, that kind of leads to our offense.”

Leading Buckingham in scoring was sophomore guard Amari Toney with 13 points. Junior wing Jalen Chambers added nine points, and junior guard Nakemien Jones had eight.

“All 12 players scored for the Knights in their home opener,” Boyers said.

Buckingham led 16-4 after the first quarter, 36-12 at halftime and 53-14 after three quarters.

With the victory, the Knights improve to 2-0, having opened their season Dec. 4 with a 64-53 road win over Amelia County High School.

“We’ve gotten off to a good start just like we talked about. We’ve got some good teams up ahead of us. We’ve played some good teams. We’ve got some good teams up ahead. We’re just trying to get better each and every day.”

Buckingham is aiming to improve upon its 2017-18 campaign in which it finished with a 7-13 overall record. The Knights were eliminated from the postseason by Glenvar High School in the Region 2C quarterfinals.

Graduation in 2018 claimed a couple of key players for Buckingham as it will particularly miss the contributions of guard Jayvon Chambers and center Brycen Newby

The 2018-19 Knights roster features four seniors, four juniors, three sophomores and one freshman.

“We’re pretty balanced out,” Boyers said.

As evidenced by the Central game, Buckingham’s scoring has come from a variety of players so far.

Boyers highlighted three players that he is expecting will distinguish themselves on the court in leadership roles.

“We’ve got our leading scorer back in Jalen Chambers,” he said.

Along with Chambers, the coach cited senior wing Deamonte Lassenberry and senior point guard Andrew Johnson Jr.

“Those guys are kind of the leaders for us, and those are our three captains and three of our hardest-working kids as well,” Boyers said.

The Knights were scheduled to visit Nottoway High School on Tuesday, and they will host Goochland High School on Friday at 7 p.m.

Boyers noted Friday night that both upcoming contests would be significant challenges.

In terms of the matchup against the Bulldogs, he said, “Goochland returns a lot. They were in the state tournament last year and won their region as well.”