Prep Basketball: South Rowan boys 54, East Rowan 53

East Rowan Phillip Ajayi (12) and South Rowan's Steven Dessasore (33). Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

South Rowan's Blake Houston (21) tries to in bound the ball in game with East Rowan. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Mike London

mlondon@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — A tough season for East Rowan's boys got tougher with a 54-53 loss to South Rowan on Friday.

"Like a lot of our games, we got to the top of the hill but couldn't get over it," East senior Phillip Ajayi said. "We dig every game, but tonight we had even more desire in our hearts."

Despite an inspired effort by the Mustangs (2-15, 0-9) on Senior Night, South should have won routinely. It led by 11 with under three minutes left.

You don't expect Blake Houston to miss clutch free throws or B.J. Grant to clang a breakaway dunk, but that stuff happened in a roller-coaster NPC contest that left South coach John Davis checking for gray hairs.

South (9-11, 5-4) was a brutal 5-for-15 at the foul line in the fourth quarter and watched its double-digit lead fly right out the window.

"We sure can make it interesting," Davis said. "We miss a bunch of free throws and give East a chance. And give East credit. They coulda played dead down as much as they were."

East coach Jim Lankford's crew got off to an awful start. South got early 3s from Brad Akers and John Davis and blew out to a 17-4 lead.

But by the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs were stirring behind Ajayi and Rashawn Joshua

South settled for 3s against East's zone in the second quarter and paid the price. The Raiders shot 2-for-13 and led only 23-21 at the break.

"It's better to go 2-for-4 on 2s than 1-for-4 on 3s," Coach Davis said. "It's just simple math. We can go inside, but a lot of times we'll fall in love with those 3s. What I love are 2s — especially the 2s that go in."

The third quarter was South loving 2s. Houston carved up East with his passing. He had six quick assists, three that created John Davis layups and another three that set up Grant. Coach Davis had to enjoy a 21-point quarter with nine 2s. South led 44-35.

When Houston (16 points) hit a 3-pointer to open the fourth, South led by a dozen. Its lead was still a comfortable 11 until Ajayi made a jumper with 2:30 left.

"That sparked it off," Ajayi said.

What he sparked was a furious East rush, even with Riley Weber (13 rebounds) sitting with five fouls. South kept missing at the line, and a Preston Troutman 3 with 25 seconds left cut South's lead to 54-51.

Grant missed two free throws, but East's Ethan Curlee was called for a walk as he grabbed the rebound.

East was convinced it forced a walking call of its own seconds later, but didn't get the whistle. The Mustangs had to foul Grant again with 12.9 seconds remaining.

Again, he missed two free throws.

That gave East a window to tie with a 3, but it had no timeouts left. Cole Honeycutt pushed the ball down on the right side and dumped a pass to Ajayi at the top of the circle.

Ajayi had a look for an instant, but he elected to dish to Troutman, who was 15 feet out on the left side.

"I thought Phillip was going to shoot and was starting in for the rebound, but then I got the ball," Troutman said. "I was two steps in front of the 3-point line."

Troutman swished the shot to cut South's lead to one. There was a whistle and confusion after Troutman's shot went in. The clock showed 4.6 seconds left. South didn't want a timeout. East had none to call.

South didn't even have to inbound the ball and time would've expired, but after brief chaos, it managed to get the ball in to Grant. He protected it, as time finally ran out.

"There was a violation that wasn't called," Troutman said. "The guy throwing it in stepped across the line, and then he stepped back. It was a tough way to lose on Senior Night."

Lankford wasn't pleased at all with how the final minute unfolded, but he praised both teams.

"Typical East-South game," he said. "South played very hard. My guys gave a great effort."

south rowan (54) — Houston 16, Grant 12, Davis 9, McDaniel 6, Akers 5, Boulware 2, Glaspy 2, Sharpe 1, Dessasore 1, Gaddy, J. Honeycutt.

east rowan (53) — Joshua 11, Ajayi 10, Troutman 9, Weber 7, Rogers 7, C. Honeycutt 5, O. Gittens 4, Sells, Driver, Curlee.

S. Rowan 17 6 21 10 — 54

E. Rowan 9 12 14 18 — 53