MOORESVILLE — Maurice Torrence came out smoking in the second half as South Rowan’s Raiders downed Mooresville 66-60 in non-conference high school boys basketball Tuesday night.
Torrence, the Raiders’ 6-foot-3 senior center, had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds, and the Raiders improved to 4-4 for the season. He had a double-double just in the second half with 15 points and 10 boards.
“I’ve been getting in foul trouble. When I get in foul trouble, I seem to can’t play right. They needed me the second half, so I just stepped it up,” said Torrence, who was 7-for-10 on field goals in the last two quarters.
Torrence picked up two fouls in the first quarter and took only two shots the entire first half.
“We talked right before the second half,” said coach John Davis of the Raiders. “He didn’t play particularly well against West (South’s 62-60 win last week). In the first half, he was almost non-existent here. He kept trying to go over the guys, instead of trying to work up underneath. I told him, ‘You had a bad game against West and have not played well the first half.Let’s go out and have a heck of a second half.’ He came out and every time he touched the ball, he made good shots around the basket. He played hard.”
Mooresville had taken a 28-26 halftime lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Darien Fish in the final 20 seconds of the first half.
Torrence scored the first two baskets of the second half, and the Raiders never trailed again. But they were still in a real battle.
“We went out there and played hard. Even though Mooresville was a good team, we played hard,” said Torrence.
Mooresville was unbeaten at 5-0 coming into the game. South improved to 4-4.
Torrence had plenty of help in the crucial second half. Sharp-shooting forward Doug Daugherty had 12 of his game-high 20 points in the last two quarters. Guard Tore’ Girty, who finished with 17 points, got five of them in the last period. Guard Scott Beck had eight big points in the third period and finished with 10 points and a team-high eight assists.
When Daugherty knocked in a 3-pointer with 4:30 to play, it gave South a 55-47 lead, its biggest advantage of the night. But coach Stephen Mauney’s Blue Devils weren’t finished.
A long 3-pointer by reserve Guy McConnell started an 8-0 run that tied it up with 3:04 to play.
“That’s a tribute to Mooresville. He has a quality team. The kid hit a big 3 in the corner that was deep, then they hit a couple of crucial shots. And we didn’t get some very good looks down here at this end,” said Davis.
Torrence, on an assist from Girty, put the Raiders up 57-55 with 2:32 to play. When Chris Winford missed at the other end, Torrence rebounded. Girty followed by driving to the basket for a four-point lead, and the Raiders stayed on top down the stretch.
“That’s a tribute to my team,” said Davis. “These guys showed they had heart tonight. When the going got tough, they dug down deep, and they were able to pull out a win.”
South, after losing back-to-back games to A.L. Brown and North Rowan, has defeated two straight unbeaten teams, and the Raiders are fired up.
“Whoever wants to play us, we’re ready,” said Torrence.
NOTES: South will be at home against Northwest Cabarrus at approximately 7:30 p.m. today, then the Raiders host North Rowan in a rematch on Friday. ... South shot 59.3 percent in the second half and 49.1 (28-for-57) for the game. Mooresville was 20-for-53 (37.7 percent). ... The Blue Devils made eight 3-pointers, four by Fish, while South connected on four 3s. ... Mooresville outrebounded the Raiders 37-33 with Ray Gallahan grabbing a game-high 16 boards. ... Justin Pini led Mooresville with 18 points. Fish (14), Gallahan (13) and Chris Winford (10) joined him in double figures.
SOUTH ROWAN (66) — Daugherty 20, Kennedy, Mack, Beck 10, Girty 17, Torrence 15, Diggs 2, Childers 2, Hornbeak, Patterson.
MOORESVILLE (60) — Fish 14, Gallahan 13, Pini 18, C. Winford 10, B. Winford, McConnell 3, Alomia 1, Lacey 1, McCorkle.
South Rowan 16 10 22 16 — 66
Mooresville 11 17 18 14 — 60
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