The New Castle High boys basketball team couldn’t keep it going Tuesday night.

The Red Hurricane won the championship of its own tournament last weekend. But the first road trip proved to be tough.

Hampton, which lost in the WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA semifinals last year, held on for a 53-46 nonsection victory over New Castle.

The Talbots (2-1) are coached by former Westminster College standout Joe Lafko.

The ’Canes (2-1) were 12 of 31 from behind the arc, making only three field goals inside the arc. New Castle also committed 20 turnovers, while forcing 18.

“They played a 2-3 zone for the majority of the game and we got some looks,” first-year New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “We took more 3-pointers than we wanted to take.

“It seemed like we were committing a turnover after we had just turned them over. We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. But this was our first road game and our youth showed a little bit.”

Corey Eggleston, averaging 30.5 points a game coming in, led the ’Canes with 19 markers. Five of his seven field goals were 3-pointers.

“Corey played well again tonight,” Blundo said. “He’s playing with a tremendous amount of confidence.

“I’m more proud of him tonight than I was the first two games. He fought so hard the entire game and he kept us in it with a couple 3s in crucial situations.”

Shawn Anderson chipped in 10 points for New Castle.

Mark Pilarski led all scorers with 25 points for Hampton.

The ’Canes return to action at 7:30 p.m. Friday when they host West Allegheny (0-3) in the WPIAL Section 2-AAA opener.

“West Allegheny is a good basketball team,” Blundo said. “They lost a lot of seniors from last year, but they’ll be prepared and ready.

“Our guys know how important it is to protect the home court.”