It was the CPC opener for both teams. Mount Tabor improved its record to 10-4, while South slipped to 4-9.

CoachJohn Davis’ Raiders, who had won their previous two games, hung with the Spartans early, but the home team pulled away from a 9-all tie to lead by 15-9 after one quarter. It was still reasonably close at 22-15 in the second period, then the Spartans stormed to a 42-23 halftime lead.

“This league is a tough league,” said Davis, pointing out that two CPC teams, R.J. Reynolds and Davie County, were undefeated going into their contest last night (Reynolds beat Davie). “We’ve got to be prepared every night to come out and play basketball. We went through a spurt there about the end of the first quarter and the first part of the second quarter in which we just went dead in the water.

“They ran a different defense against us that the kids are not familiar with. We talked about how to attack it, and we just had some guys that just didn’t do what they were supposed to do. It was a 1-2-2 matchup zone, and we went absolutely brain-dead, just kind of stood there,” Davis continued. “They’re out there guarding the perimeter. The weak area was inside, and we had nobody flashing to the inside to receive the basketball.”

After trailing by 19 at halftime, South came back and played the Spartans on even terms in the second half. Mount Tabor outscored the Raiders only 41-40 in the second half, and South had a 24-17 edge in the final quarter.

“We kept playing. We kept pushing the ball and trying to play hard. The last five minutes or so, that’s what we’re going to have next year. ... They were all juniors. ... We’ve got some kids that needed some playing time. They came in and played hard, and they actually outscored the opponents,” said Davis.

Those juniors — Tore’ Girty, Maurice Torrence, Doug Daugherty, Nathan Kennedy and Scott Beck — scored a combined 44 of South’s points.

Girty, who went 5-for-8 on field goals with two 3-pointers, led the Raiders’ scoring with 12 points. Daugherty and Torrence each had 11, while senior center Damien Argrett added 10. Beck contributed six points, five assists and five steals.

“Hopefully, this is a learning experience for them. I warned them when they came in here the drums would be beating and the band would be playing. It’s a pretty good atmosphere to play in,” said the South coach, referring to an extremely loud Mount Tabor pep band.

Davis wasn’t pleased that the Raiders gave up 83 points, the most allowed by South all season.

“We just got through having a little pow wow about our ability to play defense. When you give up 83 points on a given night, that is effort, and that will change,” he said.

South’s errant passes against the Spartans’ 1-2-2 zone led to some of those points.

“We tried to make cross-court passes and passes that couldn’t be made, and they had guys in the passing lane. They just picked the ball off and went down here and shot the baskets that you can’t defend. They shot layups. You can’t allow a team of this calibre, or any team in our conference, to shoot layups,” said Davis.

For Mount Tabor, center Joel Justus, who has committed to UNC-Wilmington, and forward John Land combined for 40 of those 83 points, scoring 20 apiece. Justus was 7-for-10 on field goals with a 3-pointer, while Land was 7-for-17 with three 3s.

“Those are two good quality basketball players,” said Davis.

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NOTES: The Spartans were 31-for-67 (46.3 percent) on field goals, but shot over 50 percent until coach Andy Muse pulled his starters. South was 25-for-63 (39.7 percent). ... South will be in non-conference action tonight, traveling to Northwest Cabarrus.

SOUTH ROWAN (63) — King 5, Kennedy 4, Argrett 10, Girty 12, Daugherty 11, Torrence 11, Childers, Beck 6, Faggart, Cook 4, Miller.

MOUNT TABOR (83) —Land 20, Newman 11, Justus 20, Minter 10, Guerrero 6, Wade 9, Ackley 2, Hairston 2, Turner 2, Cooke, Bach 1.

South Rowan 9 14 16 24 — 63