Coach Kelly Everhart’s high-flying Cavaliers almost doubled the score on the Comets, taking a 90-47 2A Central Carolina Conference victory.

First-place North Rowan improved to 3-0 in the CCC and 10-3 overall, while coach Rick Lewis’ last-place Comets slipped to 0-3 and 4-8.

North Stanly not only played without star point guard Junior McRae, who has been sidelined with intestinal surgery, but starting forward O.J. Owens missed the contest while making a football recruiting trip to national champion Florida State.

“We’ve got 37 points a game coming back for us (next week),” said coach Lewis, whose Comets were 4-2 with McRae in the lineup and 0-6 without him. North Stanly has lost seven straight games, the first one coming in double overtime to West Stanly on Dec. 14, the last time McRae played.

“We had good hustle. I told the guys I’m very proud of them for not quitting, especially being short-handed,” Lewis said of his other nine players.

North Rowan led 44-24 at halftime, then had a big third quarter, outscoring the Comets 31-10 for a 75-34 advantage. That put the Cavaliers within range to score 100, but Everhart sat out his starters the entire fourth quarter.

“I just told the kids we wanted to keep playing offense and keep playing fundamental defense. I’m not going to ever tell the kids not to play hard,” said Everhart. “Some of these kids don’t get as many minutes as the others, and when they get their opportunity, that’s their chance to show the coaching staff what they can do.”

Graham Hosch, Eric Davis, Jermaine Miller, Omar Witherspoon and Alfonzo Miller showed the North coaches what they could do, combining for 26 of the Cavaliers’ 90 points, 15 coming in the final quarter.

Hosch led the bench with eight points and also grabbed five rebounds. Davis and Jermaine Miller each scored six points. Alfonzo Miller had three rebounds and two steals in the final quarter and four points for the night. Witherspoon scored two points, but was extremely active with six boards, two steals, a blocked shot and an assist.

“Witherspoon has a knack for getting his hands on the ball. He still needs to work on handling the ball a little better, but he was able to get his hands on it and knock it to one of our teammates a whole lot of the time,” said Everhart.

Point guard Dre Byrd led the North Rowan starters with 18 points, while forward Mario Sturdivant came off the bench for 13 points. Center Bryan McCullough and forward Marcus Reddick added 12 and 10, respectively.

Eric McDonald led North Stanly with 12 points, which included two 3-pointers.

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NOTES: The Cavaliers could do nothing wrong in the third quarter. North Rowan went 15-for-22 on field goals, outrebounded the Comets 14-3 and used their quickness to help cause nine North Stanly turnovers. ... North Rowan was 38-for-71 (53.5 percent) on field goals and 11-for-23 at the foul line, where the Cavs have struggled at times. North Stanly was only 19-for-68 (27.9 percent) from the floor and 5-for-11 on free throws. ... North Rowan, led by McCullough and forward Marcus Lawing with 10 rebounds apiece, had a whopping 54-30 advantage on the boards. ... Nick Drye had seven rebounds for the Comets. ... North Rowan visits Lexington on Monday, while North Stanly hosts High Point Central on Tuesday.

NORTH ROWAN (90) — McCullough 12, Lawing 4, Reddick 10, Byrd 18, Phillips 7, Sturdivant 13, Davis 6, J. Miller 6, Witherspoon 2, A. Miller 4, Hosch 8.

NORTH STANLY (47) — McDonald 12, Watkins 2, Drye 7, Gordon 9, Vaughn 5, Carter, Harris, Mangum 9, Solomon 3.

North Rowan 23 21 31 15 — 90