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MOCKSVILLE — Davie County boys basketball coach Jim Young tried his level best to scout the epic North Rowan-West Rowan game on Thursday night. But like several hundred others, Young was turned away when the North gym reached capacity.
Still, if Young gets his way, he’ll be occupying a ringside seat when the Cavaliers and Falcons square off in the Christmas Tournament at Catawba. He’d love to see them go at it in the semifinals— when No. 2 plays No. 3. Young’s team, 7-1 after a 105-71 romp over Alexander Central on Friday night, isn’t as big as West or as quick as North, but it can shoot. And it still has its sights set on grabbing that vital No. 1 seed.
“I like to watch good basketball as much as the next guy and North and West are great teams,” chuckled Young. “I’d love to watch Mike (Gurley) and Kelly (Everhart) fight it out in the semis just like they did last year. They can’t keep me from getting a seat at the Christmas Tournament, because I’ll be coaching down there.”
Two things have to happen for Young’s perfect world, top-seed scenario to be realized. First, the War Eagles have to take care of business at Lexington next week. Second, Davie needs some help from West (7-2), which has to knock off North (6-0) when the teams square off next Wednesday in Mount Ulla. If Davie and North both have one loss going into the Christmas Tournament, the War Eagles will be seeded first by virtue of having more wins than the
Cavs.
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Alexander Central wasn’t much of a test for Davie, but the War Eagles made it interesting for a half with a lethargic defensive effort.
Davie, which buried the Cougars 91-68 in Taylorsville the first time the teams met, led only 21-18 after a quarter and by 46-39 at the half.
“We were out of sync,” said Young. “I hate playing when you’re out of school and out of your routine. We didn’t have our focus at all. I asked our guys at the half if anyone was gonna play some darned defense. “We’d just let them score (nearly) 40 points and that team shouldn’t score 40 on us in a game.”
The War Eagles got the message and jumped on Alexander hard in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Rod Tenor crashed in for several putbacks, Sean Stevens stuck a 3 and Dan Sullivan put in four free throws and before the Cougars could blink they were out of the game at 66-44. Davie scored 20 points in the first five minutes of the half and rolled up 33 in the third quarter.
“The first half we were not focused at all,” said sweet-shooting Ed Zajmovic, who scored 24 for the War Eagles. “We were lazy and had no hustle at all on the D. The second half we were much more intense.”
Davie continued to smoke in the fourth quarter, cruising over the 100-point mark for the third straight game. Young emptied his bench with five minutes left.
Stevens, who scored 40 the first time Davie met the Cougars, was “held” to his average of 26. The Cougars employed a box-and-one defense on Stevens, which was the ultimate respect for a 5-foot-7 kid.
“We’re going to see some of that,” shrugged Young. That just meant it was Sean’s turn to be a decoy and Zajmovic’s turn to score. And Ed stepped up.”
Zajmovic started slowly with five straight misses, but heated up as the game progressed.
Young says the only person who can stop the Yugoslavian marksman is himself.
“He’s real hard on himself, because he’s a perfectionist,” said Young. “We just told him to keep shooting and they would fall. Eventually they did.”
Zajmovic and Stevens brought down the house on one second-half play. Zajmovic rebounded and made the outlet to Stevens, who fired the ball right back to a racing Zajmovic. Zajmovic made a touch pass under the goal to Stevens, who promptly shoveled a no-look offering back to Zajmovic coming down the lane for a spectacular lay-in.
“I think we have surprised people all year long and will continue to surprise people,” said Zajmovic. “I hope we can surprise some people in the Christmas Tournament, too. We are looking forward to it very much.”
And obviously, so is Zajmovic’s coach.
“It’s important to us,” said Young. “They play great ball in Rowan County and there are going to be some great games.”
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NOTES:Sullivan scored 15 for Davie, while Tenor just missed a triple-double with 12 points, 11 boards and seven steals. “I’ll get a triple-double this season,” he said. “Until then, I’ll take a double-double every night.” ... In the girls game, Davie got a big 51-37 revenge win over the Cougars to improve to 4-3 and raise its hopes for claiming the No. 3 seed in the Christmas Tournament. ... Shelby Michael led Davie with 18 points, while soph Sarah Williams scored 16. ... Davie’s girls play in a tournament on the 20th and 21st against private schools, Bishop McGuinness, Greensboro Day and Charlotte Christian. How Davie fares in that tournament will determine if it’s seeded third, fourth or fifth. Salisbury stands 3-3, while East Rowan is currently 4-4 with one game to play.
Girls
ALEXANDER (37) — Setzer 12, Haddock 9, Cheek 7, Davis 5, Bumgarner 2, Bromley 2.
DAVIECOUNTY (51)— Michael 18, S.Williams 16, Walker 6, Singleton 4, H.McDaniel 3, Morton 2, Cornatzer 2.
Alexander 6 6 16 9 — 37
Davie County 8 17 8 18 — 51
Boys
ALEXANDER (71) — Walker 4, Mayes 20, Krohn 4, Byrd 3, James 5, Poe 8, Payne 9, Markham 11, Roberts 7..
DAVIECOUNTY (105)— Stevens 26, Jajmovic 24, Sullivan 15, Wooldridge 2, Janovic 3, Hogue 4, Crump 7, Propst 5, Britton 7, Tenor 12.
Alexander 18 21 11 21 — 71
Davie County 21 25 33 26 — 105
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