The Bison were hammered 98-60 by the Cavaliers (16-3, 9-0) in a 2A Central Carolina Conference contest as North’s swift junior point guard Dre Byrd ran wild for a career-high 27 points, 10 steals and 11 assists. Byrd picked up his 10th steal with 10 seconds left in the game for a rare triple-double.

North surpassed 90 points for the third time this season and won for the ninth straight time. The 98 points were the most scored by the Cavs this season and their highest point total since they beat Mount Pleasant 98-55 in 1996. The Cavs’ winning streak is their longest since they won 10 in a row in 1991.

Bison coach Matt Ridge recently suspended a number of players for the season for unspecified disciplinary reasons. He had to grit his teeth at times last night as he watched his overmatched team, which included two jayvee call-ups, get pounded. But Ridge is sticking to his guns.

“Unfortunately, some players made poor decisions,” said Ridge. “They won’t be back.”

Ridge feels his club still has a shot at making the state playoffs in a league that is wide-open once you get past the powerful Cavs, a team that proved once again that is has legitimate state title aspirations. The Cavs concluded their pregame huddle, as always, with the words: “One-two-three, Chapel Hill.”

“Being undefeated in the conference is great and all that,” said Byrd, “but the real goal is Chapel Hill. That’s the way it’s been since practice started.”

The Bison (10-9, 5-4) competed hard on Friday night. Shorthanded as they were, they were still down only 66-50 with six minutes left. But then they wore down and the Cavs’ press wore them out down the stretch. North outscored Central 32-10 late, keeping its fullcourt frenzy going right up to the buzzer.

“I apologize for that and feel bad about it,” said North coach Kelly Everhart, who played all 10 of his players at least 10 minutes. “We’re never trying to run it up on anyone. But I got caught up in the flow of the game. Our press isn’t something that I put on. We always press, so it’s something that I have to remember to take off.”

Ridge took the bitter medicine with class and without complaint.

“All you can do is tip your hat to North,” he said of the Cavs, who have lost only to 3A power West Rowan (twice) and 4A Davie County. “North plays so hard. They forced us to go uptempo and play much faster than we wanted to.”

“We knew we had 10 strong guys and they had seven,” said Byrd. “We thought we could tire them out, if we made them run, run, run.”

Ridge’s team not only was forced to run, it was severely handicapped by having only real guard, Willie Baker, left on its roster.

“To say the least, playing North Rowan with just one ballhandler presented a challenge for us,” said Ridge.

To say the least. North piled up 25 steals, and most of them came in the midcourt area where they were transfomed into easy points.

“It was great to force all those turnovers,” said Everhart. “The best part was that we were very unselfish tonight. The kids didn’t care who scored at the end of the break.”

“We enjoy making each other look good,” said Byrd, who had an amazing behind-the-back dump to BryanMcCullough for a layup. “This is a team that likes to make that extra pass.”

When the Bison scored, it was because they were able to get the ball inside to big man Alex Martin, who had a phenomenal game with 30 points and a dozen rebounds. In the second quarter, he made all six of his field goal attempts.

“Martin is a model of consistency for us,” said Ridge. “He goes hard all the time and has great hands. He’s going to keep competing. All the kids we have left are going to compete.”

But Martin was a force of one against the balanced Cavs, who got 21 points from McCullough and 11 each from Chris Phillips and Marcus Reddick in addition to Byrd’s tremendous game.

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NOTES: The most impressive bucket of the night came when North’s Mario Sturdivant jammed an inbounds lob. ... The Cavs bench cumulatively had a stellar game, despite the absence of Graham Hosch, who has a sprained wrist. Hosch may miss several weeks. ... The Cavs have won five games by 30 or more. ... North beat the Bison by 17 in the teams’ first meeting. ... It was Byrd’s eighth 20-point game and McCullough’s fourth.

HPCENTRAL (60) — Baker 11, Bryant 4, Warlick 9, Martin 30, Waugh 2, Brenner 2, Shaver 4. .

NORTHROWAN (98) — Byrd 27, Phillips 11, McCullough 21, Sturdivant 6, Reddick 11, J.Miller 6, Davis 5, A.Miller, Lawing 8, Witherspoon 3.