CONCORD — East Rowan’s boys were hoping to sweep Concord for the season, but
Marcus Cooke and the Spiders were too much for the Mustangs here Tuesday night.Cooke scored half his basketball
team’s points, 37, as the Spiders triumphed 74-60, avenging a 27-point loss at East a
month earlier.
East’s junior forward, Taylor
Weber, led the visitors with a career-high 26 points — 21 in the second half —
and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double. Junior guard JustinMiller made four
3-pointers and scored 20.
East, an 89-52 winner over Concord
on Jan. 7, needed a win to tie the Spiders for sixth place in the South Piedmont
Conference standings. Coach Mark Flynn’s Mustangs fell to 4-18 overall and 3-12 in
the SPC.
Concord, coached by Foster Park,
is now 5-17 overall and 5-10 in the league.
“It was a tale of two
halves,” said Flynn. “We sort of stood around the first half and then played
like we’re capable of playing in the second half.”
The Mustangs were down 25-12 after
one quarter, then the Spiders went on a 10-point run for a 23-point lead of 35-12. The
Mustangs almost went the entire second quarter without a field goal, missing 13 in a row
before Miller’s layup with one second left in the half.
East went on to outscore Concord
41-35 in the second half and got within 11 points early in the fourth quarter.
“If we had played two halves
like that, we might could have had a win here tonight,” said Flynn after the Mustangs
shot 56.7 percent in the last half (17-for-30).
“I think maybe we were a
little overconfident coming in,” said Flynn, who knew Concord would be out for
revenge after the blowout at East. “You could tell in warmups they were serious and
going to be ready to play. They came out playing hard. Of course, Marcus Cooke is an
unbelievable talent. We had a hard time stopping him. Thirty-seven points: He’s
tough.”
Cooke scored 17 points in the
first quarter, then didn’t play a lot in the second period. He got 15 of his points
in the fourth quarter. The senior forward was 12-for-18 from the floor with four
impressive slam dunks and a 3-pointer and 12-for-16 at the foul line. He added 10 rebounds
for a double-double.
Weber finished the night 12-for-22
from the floor and 2-for-4 at the foul line for his career-high night.
“He’s like everybody
else.He sort of stood around on both ends of the floor in the first half and he came out
like the rest of the guys and played real hard the second half. He made some big defensive
plays and had the dunk,” said Flynn.
n
NOTES: The Spiders were
27-for-58(46.6 percent) from the floor and 18-for-27 at the foul line. ... East went
22-for-56 (39.3 percent) on field goals and 11-for-19 on free throws. ... Cooke and
Richard Howard (nine rebounds) led the way as the Spiders beat the Mustangs 42-27 on the
boards. ... Point guard Adam Cornelius had five assists for East. ... East closes out its
regular season at Sun Valley on Friday, while the Spiders visit arch-rival Kannapolis.
EAST ROWAN (60) — Weber 26,
Misenheimer, Shepherd 2, Miller 20, Cornelius 7, Sides, Ledbetter 3, Rusher 2, Hollifield.
CONCORD (74) — Calzado 13,
Cooke 37, Howard 4, Wilson 5, Thrasher 2, Cook 5, Smith 2, Cunningham 4, Cummings 2,
Green.
East Rowan 12 7 15 26 — 60
Concord 25 14 11 24 — 74 |
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