Prep Basketball: South Rowan boys 54, North Iredell 50

By David Shaw

dshaw@salisburypost.com

LANDIS — South Rowan’s boys didn’t earn a lot of style points Monday night — but they did earn an important victory.

The fourth-seeded Raiders opened the NPC Tournament with a tougher-than-expected 54-50 triumph over visiting North Iredell.

“We love every win,” coach John Davis said. “We enjoy pretty wins and we enjoy ugly wins. We just love W’s.”

This one snapped a two-game slide and propelled South (8-16) into a second-round match against host Statesville on Wednesday night. That it came in the face of adversity made it all the more intriguing. South played the game without four regulars who were dismissed for behavior detrimental to the team.

“We just wanted to prove everybody wrong,” junior Bonner Buchanan said. “People in school were saying we didn’t have a chance.”

South not only had a chance, it had a double-digit lead for much of the second half. In the opening two periods North matched SR turnover-for-turnover and mistake-for-mistake. The hosts closed a lethargic first half with a 19-18 lead, thanks to a couple of late free throws by Dylan Goodman.

“These guys aren’t used to playing at six in the afternoon,” Davis said. “They’re used to sitting around the bleachers for an hour-and-a-half, waiting for gametime.”

By the third quarter South found its rhythm — and that gave North coach Tony Davenport the blues. SR’s surge began when junior guard Eric Tyler banked home a 3-pointer from the top of the key, providing a 26-22 lead. “Sometimes a little bank, a little luck shot like that can loosen everybody up,” he said.

Not Davenport. “That was huge at the time,” he noted after NI closed up shop with an 8-15 record. “And then 40 (South’s Kenny Washington), he buried a couple of 3-pointers back-to-back. That was the turning point of the game.”

When high-scorer Josh Medlin (20 points) scored on a last-minute, runaway layup, South owned a 40-27 lead after three quarters. “We knew we had to control the tempo and make free throws the rest of the way,” Tyler said. “That’s what sealed it.”

It did — but not before North mad a final charge up the hill. Junior sharpshooter Austin St. John opened the fourth quarter with a three-point play. Later he wiggled inside for a series of clutch layups. His final basket was a 3-pointer from right side that drew the visitors within 48-42 with 1:32 remaining.

“We were just surfing out there,” Davis explained. “We had a 12-point lead and figured we could just surge for a while.”

North got as close as 50-48 Case Colvin sank the first of two free throws with 1:03 to go. But South clinched the victory in the closing seconds when Buchanan bounced a pass across the lane to Nathan Lambert, who kissed an uncontested layup off the glass. “We weren’t trying to force anything,” Buchanan said after grabbing 12 rebounds. “We were just trying to get smart looks.”

If anything, North showed South that nothing comes easy in the postseason. “They forced us to play as a team,” Medlin said. “They pressured us in the end, but we’ll take whatever we can get.”

NORTH IREDELL (50) — St. John 15, Hunt 12, Laws 10, Colvin 6, Weibley 4, Brown 3.

SOUTH ROWAN (54) — Medlin 20, Tyler 10, Washington 9, Lambert 6, Buchanan 5, Spry 2, Goodman 2, Goldstein, Rhyne, Carter, Miller.

N. Iredell 14 4 9 23 — 50

S. Rowan 13 6 21 14 — 54