WINSTON-SALEM — R.J. Reynolds boys basketball coach Howard West nodded in the direction of 5-foot-7 Davie County junior Sean Stevens, smiled and shook his head.
“I love that kid. I watched him score 43 against South Rowan in here on Monday,” said West. “Sean’s a great little player.”
Unfortunately for Stevens and Davie County, Reynolds is loaded down with great players and none of them qualify as little. They range from middle-sized to large to huge to gargantuan and there are a dozen of them.
Bully Reynolds (22-3), top-seeded in the 4A Central Piedmont Conference and in the state, kicked sand in Davie’s face 79-43 in the CPC semifinals on Tuesday, ending the War Eagles’ surprisingly strong season at 15-10.
“A lot of people told our kids we wouldn’t be a .500 team,” said Davie coach Jim Young. “Thank goodness they didn’t listen. I’m proud of what they did. We played a five-guard lineup, but we were competitive against everyone.
“Well, everyone but Reynolds.”
Davie went 0-7 against the three Winston-Salem powerhouses (Reynolds, West Forsyth and Mount Tabor) and was overmatched by West Rowan’s size in the Christmas Tournament. Other than that — in games they had a reasonable expectation to win — the War Eagles went 15-2. Nothing wrong with that.
Davie came out of the gate on fire and actually led 9-6 after four minutes. All nine points came on fading, falling-down corner 3-pointers by Stevens, who was being defended by Reynolds star Mitchell Baldwin, who’s the same size as Davie’s post people. But a weary Stevens scored just one point over the final 28 minutes. Reynolds alternated at least five defenders on him and Stevens missed his last seven attempts.
“We did a couple of things on him,” said the mustachioed, crisply-coifed, sartorially perfect West, who would make a great James Bond villain. “Whoever had Stevens didn’t have any responsibility to help out on anyone else. And we wanted to make Stevens dribble the ball. We ran at him and forced him to drive right into our big guys.”
Whatever West asks, his guys generally execute. That’s why they won a state title last season and why they’re on their way to another one. Most impressively, the Demons are ready to play whether they’re going against the nation’s elite or mere mortals like Davie.
“We’re talented, but we’re mature and unselfish,” said West. “We occasionally have to have a meeting of the minds, but for the most part this group keeps its focus.”
Reynolds, which looks like an NBA team when it emerges from its locker room wearing ties and jackets, has focused so well it hasn’t lost to a North Carolina team since it was stunned by Davie in Mocksville last season. This year’s three losses have been to national powers.
“Our schedule is preparation for the state playoffs,” said West. “We sneaked up on people last year. This year, we know we won’t be sneaking up on anybody, but we’ll be ready. We played the best high school team in the country in Oak Hill Academy and Oak Hill got up to play R.J. Reynolds. That tells you something.”
Baldwin opened the game with a sweet jumper and followed up with an emphatic slam on his way to 24 points. He’s one of the 100 finalists for the McDonald’s All-American game and the Charlotte signee made a few more believers last night. He nailed his first 11 shots from the field and they came from all angles and distances.
“He’s big-time,” said Young. “The whole package.”
Reynolds, which shot 61 percent and forced 26 turnovers, led by 13 after a quarter. Davie still trailed by a respectable 17 at the half, but West kept subbing fresh guys and Davie’s main men wore down as the night wore on. The War Eagles scored only 20 points in the second half and finished, ironically, with the same number of points that Stevens accounted for by himself one night earlier.
“Realistically, we had to play a perfect game to have a chance against that all-star group,” said Young. “We panicked a little and made too many turnovers. But Reynolds — they can do that to you.”
The good news is that now Young can sit back and watch Reynolds do it to some other people for the next few weeks.
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NOTES:Junior Dan Sullivan led Davie with 17 points, seven of them from the foul line. “It was one of Dan’s better games,” said Young. “He took it right to the hoop on their big guys.” ... Davie senior Rod Tenor fouled out, but finished his career knowing he didn’t back down. Tenor challenged several Reynolds dunks and came up with a few blocks. ... Reynolds will play Mount Tabor or West Forsyth in the finals.
DAVIECOUNTY (43)— Sullivan 17, Zajmovic 8, Stevens 10, Hogue 2, Tenor, Crump 4, Propst, Stein, Jankovic, Woodridge, Britton 2, Rice.
R.J. REYNOLDS(79) — Mitchell 12, Baldwin 24, Holcomb-Faye 8, Petree 8, Reid 4, McDougald 6, Green 2, Foster 8, Russell 3, Byrum 2, Brown 2, Senter.
Davie Co. 12 11 9 11 — 43
Reynolds 25 15 20 19 — 79
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