The high school basketball notebook ...
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WOUNDEDKNEE: The injury to Jenny Reilly’s left knee is worse than first thought, according to coach Jennifer Shoaf.
It was reported that Reilly tore the medial collateral ligament in the Hornets’ win over Davie County, but now doctors have found a slight tear in her anterior cruciate ligament as well.
She has gone to therapy once and sat out Friday’s 79-25 pasting at the hands of Ledford. But Shoaf is expecting the best.
“They have fitted her with a brace and we’re hoping for next Friday,” Shoaf said of her return.
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East
TAKINGCHARGE: The mythical “Shane Battier Award” for taking the most charges has to go to East’s Matt Belk, who gave up his body virtually every time a Central Cabarrus player drove the lane in the Vikings’ 80-72 victory over the Mustangs on Friday.
Belk was rewarded for his sacrifice of life and limb with two charging calls.
Runner-up for the Battier: South’s Nathan “The Pest” Kennedy. Kennedy is involved in at least five collisions a game, but usually it’s with people dribbling the ball on the perimeter. Belk’s charge-taking is scarier, because it comes against players going to the basket with a full head of steam.
Honorable mention: Belk’s teammate Mark Misenheimer, a football player who doesn’t mind throwing his body around.
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MILLERTIME: Justin Miller’s 28 points against Central on Friday moved him past Kevin Abel, one of the stars of East’s last Sam Moir Christmas Classic champions in 1975, on the Mustangs’ all-time scoring list.
Miller’s now ninth in Mustang history with 787 points. He’ll soon move past William Ross, who scored 818 in a career that ended in 1987 and baseball legend David Trexler, who scored 827 in a career that ended in 1995.
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MOREMILLER:Miller is currently averaging 18.7 ppg and is one of several players in the hunt for the county scoring title.
The last Mustang to average that many points was another athlete best known for baseball — current Catawba first baseman Travis Goins. Goins scored at a 21.3 clip in 1996 on his way to a 1,212-point career, the most prolific in East history.
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SCADS OFSCORERS:East has a tremendous senior class of boys, which explains why the Mustangs have been fighting for a playoff berth this year.
In addition to Miller, Adam Cornelius (579 career points) and Taylor Weber (564) will finish among the school’s all-time top 15 scorers. Cornelius and Weber could pass football hero Johnny Yarbrough (No. 19), who scored 586 points in a career that ended in 1971, in East’s next game.
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INLIKEFLYNN: No coach likes to come up on the short end, but East coach Mark Flynn’s mood was considerably more upbeat on Friday, when his team played well at Central, than on Wednesday when it had a forgettable shooting night against A.L. Brown.
“We competed hard tonight,” said Flynn. “Last time we came to Central, they just destroyed us (by 72-45).”
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POINTBREAK:East put up its third highest point total (72) in the loss to Central and its 33-point fourth quarter had to be its top eight-minute explosion of the young century.
It was the most points East has scored this season and still lost the game.
It marked the third time East has surrendered 80 and the first time it’s done so in 12 games — since Central beat East 84-65 in Granite Quarry to open SPC warfare.
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CONCEDINGNOTHING:High Point Central boys coach Stephen Johnson refuses to concede that North Rowan’s undefeated Cavs are going to run away with the CCC race, even after they whipped the Bison 77-64 on Friday night in Spencer.
“North played an excellent game and we played a pretty good game,” Johnson said. “I’m not gonna say that they’re better than us. I’m not saying anyone is. I think we’re a darned good team. I think we can beat anybody.”
Johnson pointed out that the foul line, where his team missed 10 opportunities, and several blown layups were the difference.
“If we make our foul shots and if we had made our layups — who knows?” said Johnson.
Of course, North wasn’t exactly at full strength. The Cavs were without Marcus Lawing, who missed the game with a high temperature. The steady power forward is good for 10 points and 10 rebounds every night.
Round Two between North and the Bison, who will likely battle Lexington for second in the league, is set for Feb. 2 in High Point.
North, by the way, is ranked No.1 among the state’s 2A teams in the new http://www.ihigh.com
poll. Northwood is No. 2.
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