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WINSTON-SALEM — Dick Vitale should have been at the South Rowan-Mount Tabor boys basketball game Friday night.
Marcus Rucker deserved some Vitale-isms.
Rucker, who joined the Raiders when the Central Piedmont Conference season began, scored nine fourth quarter points in every possible way.
But it was a drive down the lane early in the fourth period of South’s impressive 59-52 win that would have had Vitale doing the same thing as the fans — clutching their head in holy amazement.
South, which simply outplayed the taller Spartans throughout the game, was holding on to a 45-38 lead when Rucker began dribbling between his legs at the top of the key. The 6-4 slasher zipped past 6-8 Jon Dohner, soared to heights unknown and tomahawked home a slam dunk.
“It was a tomahawk-and-a half,’ corrected South coach John Davis.
It was super, scintillating and sensational — oops, sorry, that’s Vitale’s territory.
That one shot told the Spartan crowd which had been awaiting a Raider collapse that it just wasn’t going to happen. It also told them that South Rowan is much better than its 10-10 overall mark (1-4 in the league).
But there was still the matter of holding on. Tabor, which shot terribly from the outside all night long, suddenly caught fire, hitting four 3s. When Grant Garmon hit his third of the period, the lead was down to 53-52 with 1:06 remaining.
But seniors are supposed to be PTPers (that’s “prime time players” for all of you who turn the sound down when Vitale speaks) and South’s veterans came through. Tabor did not score again while Nathan Kennedy and Rucker made three free throws and Maurice Torrence slid inside for a layup off a Kennedy feed.
“We held our composure,” Davis praised. “That typified a senior squad. That’s senior leadership. We went with those guys and they performed for us.”
So well, in fact, that afterward Tabor coach Andy Muse approached Davis and asked if he could go in the locker room and shake every Raider hand.
The janitors were even congratulating Davis.
And that’s because the Raiders cleaned up against a Spartan team coming off a huge victory over West Forsyth. But the Spartans (14-7, 3-2) could not solve Davis’ 2-3 zone.
“We sat back and challenged their shooters,” he said.
It paid off from the start as the Raiders shot out to a 15-8 first period lead. But Tabor led at halftime, 27-25.
Davis said he made some adjustments defensively — and offensively, gave the ball to Tore Girty.
The plan for Girty was pretty simple. Come down and launch 3-pointers.
His pull-up trey sliced Tabor’s lead to 29-28 and started a 10-0 run.
Girty fed Torrence for an easy two and then Torrence hit an off-balanced jumper. When Doug Daugherty drained a 3 from the corner, South led 35-29.
Girty then scored the last eight points, including two more from long distance and South’s lead was 43-35 going into the fourth.
“He’s a key for us,” Davis said. “Tonight, he came to play and when he plays well, we look good.”
Then, Rucker made his highlight reel slam.
“We’re a small, guard-type team,” Davis said. “We look for mismatches. They put a bigger kid on Rucker and he went right around him.”
While Girty was looking purty with a 16-point effort, Rucker was simply beautiful to watch. He finished with 19 to lead all scorers and did his best Magic Johnson impersonation while controlling the ball outside.
“There’s not a guy in the gym who can guard him out there,” Davis said matter-of-factly. “He’s that quick. And he handles the ball really well for a guy 6-4.”
South now appears to be the team that could pull off some big wins down the stretch. Davis has his squad totally intact for perhaps the first time.
“We’ve got a good team,” Davis said for the umpteenth time this season.
Or as Vitale might warn those Winston-Salem schools, “South Rowan is not Cupcake City, baby. They’re for real.”
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NOTES: Rucker had 11 rebounds. ... Girty hurt a knee in the fourth quarter but is OK, according to Davis. ... Tabor hit five 3s in the fourth. ... South hosts West Forsyth Tuesday.
SOUTH ROWAN (59) — Rucker 19, Girty 16, Torrence 9, Daugherty 7, Kennedy 4, Beck 4, Propst, Childers.
MOUNT TABOR (52)— Garmon 11, Ackley 11, Granzbergas 7, Dohner 6, Gaynor 6, Logan 5, Johnson 3, Wade 2, Hinds 1.
South Rowan 15 10 18 16 — 59
Mount Tabor 8 19 8 17 — 52
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