The Cavaliers desperately want to be contenders — for a state 2A playoff berth — but they’ve forgotten how to throw a knockout punch.

“I don’t know what happens to us in the last two minutes,” second-year coach Kelly Everhart tried to explain. “We get a lead, we look at the scoreboard and we get careless. Right now we’re struggling to put people away. We don’t go after them when we have the opportunity to. It almost seems like we’re playing not to lose rather than to win.”

North provided its second good example of the week Friday night at South Rowan. Two days after squandering an 11-point lead with 2:09 to play and falling to West Rowan, the Cavs nearly handed the Raiders an early Christmas gift. This time they owned a 15-point lead with 1:40 remaining before checking over their shoulders. But instead of hitting the self-destruct button, North displayed some needed restraint and fled the scene with a 72-69 victory.

“I’m not gonna say we escaped,” said point guard Andre Byrd. “But we’re glad to be getting out of here. A win is still a win, and we’ll take it.”

North (3-2) can thank Byrd for his timely contribution. The 5-9 junior turned on the gas in the fourth quarter, when he scored eight of his game-high 21 points. The biggest were a pair of free throws that gave the Cavs a 71-60 lead with 48.2 seconds on the clock.

“Somebody had to step up and say, ‘Hey, I’m taking control’ in the fourth quarter,” Everhart said. “And (Byrd) is our sparkplug, our leader on the floor. He gets us excited and speeds the game up. Whenever that happens, we’re a much better team.”

North was a dominant team for much of the first half. The Cavs used a 14-3 run to turn a one-point edge into a 33-21 lead early in the second period. They led by 15 points on two occasions and were up 13 at the break.

“It seemed like none of their shooters ever missed,” South coach John Davis lamented after the Raiders (2-5) lost by four points or less for the fourth time. “At halftime I told our boys to just keep digging. We knew these guys would give us an opportunity to get back in the ballgame.”

That chance came in the third quarter, when South’s phone-booth defense induced five offensive foul calls against the Cavs. The hosts used a driving layup by reserve Tim Cook and a last-second, over-the-shoulder bank shot by Damien Argrett to close within 50-48 after three periods.

“You can’t let teams stay around like that,” said North’s Mario Sturdivant. “We had a lack of fire and really let up in the second half. Then they tried to give it to us in the end.”

Instead, Byrd helped the Cavs widen their gap, just enough to withstand a late Raider charge.

“We keep you on the edge of your seat,” said Davis, a former South player. “We like to be entertaining, but we need to turn one of these close games into something positive — we need to win.”

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NOTES: Sturdivant had 16 points, including 11 in the first half when he converted three three-pointers. ... Argrett paced South with 16 points while smooth-shooting teammate Doug Daugherty netted 15 in the first half. ... The Cavs made 16 of 26 free throws, a vast improvement on their 20-for-40 showing against West.

NORTH ROWAN (72) — Byrd 21, Sturdivant 16, McCullough 9, Lawing 8, Phillips 6, A.Miller 6, Reddick 2, J.Miller 2, Hosch 2, Davis, Witherspoon.

SOUTH ROWAN (69) — Argrett 16, Daugherty 15, Beck 8, Girty 7, Childers 7, King 5, Torrence 5, Cook 4, Diggs 2, Kennedy, Faggart, Miller.

North Rowan 22 21 7 22 — 72