CLEMMONS— More than anything, Davie County boys basketball coach Jim Young lauds his team’s unselfishness.
But he would have forgiven Sean Stevens if his star guard had been a little selfish in the fourth quarter Tuesday night during the Central Piedmont Conference Tournament at West Forsyth.
The game wasn’t in doubt. Davie was on its way to an eye-popping 117-77 victory over South Iredell. But Dwayne Grant’s school scoring record of 45 points was.
Stevens finished with 43 and had an easy chance to tie the mark when he was ahead of the field for a snowbird. But instead of shooting, he inexplicably tossed the ball behind him toward teammate Dan Sullivan. The pass, by the way, went awry
What gives Sean?
“Dan has been wanting to dunk all year,” Stevens grinned afterward. “I heard him so clear. He yelled, ‘Sean give me the dunk!’ I thought I was flipping it back to him.”
It was the only bad decision for Stevens on a night when Davie broke a school record for points. The mad bomber stroked 11-of-21 from 3-point range, coming within one trey of his state mark.
Stevens is closing in fast on another record: Robert Doggett’s mark of 123 3-pointers in a season. After last night, Stevens has 122 with at least two games left in his senior season.
Stevens won’t shy away from shooting them either. Nor will his teammates. The War Eagles put up 38 of the bombs last night, hitting 17.
“When guys are shooting, setting screens and giving the ball up, that’s basketball to me,” Young said. “It’s fun to watch them.”
It was easy to tell South Iredell fans were expecting the worst. When Nemanja Kreckovic missed the first shot of the game, a fan shouted, “I can’t believe it. He missed one.”
The fan was obviously remembering the last time the two teams got together in a 113-85 Davie win.
On Tuesday, the Vikings simply shook their heads at the offensive onslaught. Sonny Schofield’s team was on an 80-point pace by halftime and still trailed by 25, 65-40. Both Stevens and Kreckovic had 18.
Stevens then exploded for five threes and 14 points in the third quarter and began his assault on the record in the fourth as Young left him in with the subs.
“I normally don’t do that,” Young said. “But it’s late in the year and we thought we’d give him a chance.”
Davie (15-7) got a lot of good work inside too. Chris Stein finished with 19 points and Sullivan 16, and both had 11 rebounds. Brian Hunter, subbing for injured point guard Micah Garner, ran the show.
“Hunter has played all five positions for me,” Young said. “He did a nice job. And Stein has had a great year for us.”
But none have had one like Stevens. And you can bet, next time, he’ll shoot that
layup.
n
NOTES: South (6-17) was led by Michael Ellis’ 40. ... Stevens was 14-of-26 overall from the field. ... Stevens has three 43-point games in his career. ... Young said there wasn’t much incentive for his third-seeded and playoff-bound team, other than playing more games. But Stevens said, “One of the incentives is getting to play Reynolds or West Forsyth again. Maybe if we can upset them, it will give us momentum going into the playoffs.” ... Davie meets Reynolds (19-5) Thursday at 8 p.m.
SOUTH IREDELL (77) — Ellis 40, Nicholson 9, T. Martin 7, Smith 6, N. Martin 5, Lanko 5, Frye 3, J. Martin 2.
DAVIE (117) — Stevens 43, Kreckovic 21, Stein 19, Sullivan 16, Moser 10, Hunter 4, Vestal 2, Nelson 2.
S. Iredell 19 21 15 21 — 77
Davie County 30 35 29 23 — 117
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