Argrett suddenly sprouted like Jack’s beanstalk — from a 5-foot-10 guard who wasn’t even on the varsity team into a 6-6 center who is one of the key men for the better-than-expected Raiders.

“I’ve still got a lot to learn about playing inside,” said Argrett. “I was always the point guard.”

“You can see that Damien was a guard from the way he shoots the ball and the way he handles it,” said Raider coach John Davis. “He’s going to be a pleasant surprise for his coach when he gets to college.”

Kannapolis coach Shelwyn Klutz would be glad to volunteer to help Argrett pack for college this afternoon after watching Argrett pummel his team for 16 first-half points on 8 of 9 field goal shooting. With Argrett dominating inside, the Raiders were in control of the game by halftime, leading 36-24.

A 12-point lead at the break usually doesn’t mean that much, but in this case it did. The Wonders (0-2) have a terrible time scoring (they put up 37 points in their opening loss to Sun Valley) and making up a dozen points for them at this stage of the hoops season is a lot tougher than scoring two touchdowns on the gridiron.

“A 10-point lead is like 20 against us,” conceded Klutz. “We’re just not getting any shots to drop. Our defense couldn’t get us any layups and obviously we’re not shooting the ball from outside like we need to.”

Klutz knew the numbers were bad — he just didn’t know how bad. Kannapolis made just 29 percent of its field goal attempts. That enabled South to sit back in a zone and watch Kannapolis clang away to its heart’s content while Argrett and power forward Maurice Torrence swept the boards clean.

The South-Kannapolis rivalry in basketball isn’t anything close to as fierce as the one in football, but the Raiders have made it a habit to play well against the Wonders on the hardwood. They’ve now beaten Kannapolis eight straight times since an overtime loss early in the 1995-96 season.

The Raiders started sluggishly and led only 15-14 after the first quarter, despite eight quick points by Argrett.

But Drew King, who plays a sort of combination small forward/point guard for the Raiders took over in the second quarter. He had half of his 10 assists in the span of a couple of minutes, finding Argrett and Torrence for a flurry of layups.

“Drew’s really improved,” said Klutz. “He broke down our defense and did a great job of getting the ball down low to No. 44 (Argrett).”

The teams played on even terms in the third quarter before South wrapped things up with an 11-2 run to start the fourth. The Raiders got points from all over the place during that spurt. King and Argrett made free throws, while Scott Beck, Doug Daugherty and Tore’ Girty hit jumpers.

“That’s a good thing about our team,” said Davis. “On any given night you don’t know which of our guys is going to hurt you. There are a lot of guys who are capable of helping this team out.”

Argrett, who has averaged 17 points in his last four games, looks like he’ll be the team’s main man, but as Davis indicated, the Raiders have more balance than most squads.

King scored 18 in the season opener, while Beck has already had games of 18 and 20 points. Torrence has been in double digits three times, while Daugherty and reserve Tore’ Girty have scored as many as 16 in a game.

That’s a lot of people to worry about.

Still, the Wonders gave a pretty tough effort on the defensive end, often banging South’s guards like it was third-and-goal.

“I thought our defense the first three quarters was good enough to win some ballgames,” said Klutz. “But we’re definitely not going to beat any team scoring in the 30s or low 40s.”

Klutz knew this would be a tough year before it began. It got a lot tougher when he learned earlier this week that athletic Justin Chambers, who figured to be his top scorer, wasn’t going to play this season.

“That leaves us with only one guy with any real experience (guard Ryan Craft),” said Klutz. “This isn’t going to be easy, but that’s the hand that we’ve been dealt and we’ll play it out.”

Argrett finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Torrence had 10 points and nine boards. Daugherty added 11 points.

Andre Allison led the Wonders with eight points. Bomber Jason Brown, who scored 18 against Sun Valley, was limited to five.

“It was good to get a win,” said Davis, who has lost tough games early to Mooresville, West Rowan and North Rowan. “It was especially nice not to have to go to the wire to get one.”

KANNAPOLIS(42) — Allison 8, Blakeney 1, Brown 5, Clowney 2, Collins 3, Craft 6, Gibson 3, Jordan 6, McCrae, Henry 3, Porter, Barrier 5.

SOUTHROWAN(63) — King 6, Diggs 3, Childers 2, Daugherty 11, Beck 8, Kennedy, Torrence 10, Girty 5, Faggart 1, Cook, Miller, Argrett 17.

Kannapolis 14 10 11 7 — 42