LANDIS— South Rowan’s boys squandered a second-quarter lead and spent the next 11 minutes trying to get it back from South Iredell.
Once the Raiders finally regained the edge, they made sure their hard work would not go to waste.
South Rowan overcame a 13-point third-quarter deficit and held off South Iredell down to stretch to take a 69-67 win on Friday night.
The Raiders, who led by as many as nine points in the second quarter, took the lead with 7:28 left in the fourth quarter and never relinquished it.
“Once we get that lead, we fight like beasts to keep it,” South point guard David Lane said.
Getting that lead was no easy task for the Raiders
(10-9, 2-3 CPC).
South Iredell (5-12, 0-5) established a 52-39 advantage with 4:58 left in the third quarter and appeared to be cruising to an upset victory.
South Rowan spoiled that plan in a matter of minutes by scoring on each of its next seven possessions.
Zach Overcash (eight points), Andrew Morgan (12 points) and Tre Hornbeak(17 points) each made baskets while getting fouled, although Morgan was the only one to complete the three-point play.
Reserve Gerry Propst converted a steal into a layup after Hornbeak’s bucket, and Joel Patterson hit two free throws with 2:25 left in the quarter to help South close to within 52-50.
The Raiders finally went ahead 57-56 on a 3-pointer by Hornbeak from the right corner early in the final period.
“I love shooting from that spot,” Hornbeak said. “But I’m kind of inconsistent, you’ve got David over here, he can hit it all day long.”
The diminutive Lane came up large not only from that same corner, but from the charity stripe.
Lane scored seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter, including six on two 3-pointers.
On the Raiders’ next possession following Hornbeak’s 3, Lane nailed one from the same spot to put South ahead 60-56. Less than a minute later, Lane buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Raiders a 65-59 edge.
The Vikings closed within a single point two times down the stretch, but Lane hit one of two free throws with 11.9 seconds left to create a two-point cushion.
South Iredell’s Thomas Nicholas missed a potential game-tying jumper from the right wing, and Brent Frye’s long stickback attempt from the left baseline missed its mark at the buzzer.
“We went brain-dead,”South coach John Davis said of the Raiders’ second- and third-quarter struggles.
“We played in spurts. We played a spurty enough game so we could actually win the game. We should go out there and put 32 good minutes of basketball together.”
The fact that South Iredell had such a good chance to tie or win the game in the closing moments was up for debate.
Alex Shuford, who scored a game-high 19 points, hit a short jumper with 17.0 seconds left to pull the Vikings within 68-67.
South Iredell called a quick timeout, and an official pulled coach Sonny Schofield out of his huddle to tell him Antwan Daye, who checked in 39 seconds early, wasn’t listed in the scorebook.
Such an offense normally leads to a technical foul, but the officials didn’t take any action after the South Iredell scorekeeper found Daye’s name on the roster from the previous game.
“I was thinking about the consequences,”Schofield said. “But once he said it was the same as the last game, I blocked it out of my mind.”
The Vikings got a break, but they still couldn’t pull out the win. Davis gave a lot of credit to Patterson and Propst.
Patterson scored only four points, but Davis decided to put him on South Iredell star Michael Ellis when the Raiders were down double-digits.
Ellis finished with 14 points, but he hit only 1 of 6 shots in the second half.
“Joel, with a little bit of bulk and size on him, was able to bump him and knock him off his game,” Davis said.
SOUTH IREDELL (67) — Shuford 19, Ellis 14,
Nicholson 10, Parks 6, Frye 6, J. Martin 5, Lanka 4, Martin 3.
SOUTH ROWAN (69) — Hornbeak 17, Morgan 12, Lane 9, Overcash 8, Mack 7, Corriher 7, Patterson 4, Propst 3, Biles 2, Keener.
South Iredell 11 27 18 11 — 67
South Rowan 16 15 23 15 — 69
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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