“Be careful,” former North coach Bob Hundley
kidded current coach Kelly Everhart, who used to assist him. “You start out like
this, and it’s gonna be hard to top.”
“They embarrassed us,” said East coach
Mark Flynn, whose team had dropped a cliffhanger a night earlier to South Rowan.
“North’s just a great basketball team. They should compete with anyone. They
play defense and they can shoot it. They don’t have a weakness.”
“We made a statement,” said North’s
whippet point guard Dre Byrd, who directed the highlight reel before taking on the role of
cheerleader midway through the third quarter.
Byrd’s statement was directed at North’s
foes in the Central Carolina Conference and at West Rowan, the team standing between North
and recognition as the county’s top team, not outmanned East. But the Mustangs were
the unfortunate ones who reaped the whirlwind.
It was North’s most lopsided win since it
beat East 83-38 three seasons ago and the 93 points were the most posted by North since it
ripped Mount Pleasant 98-55 in 1995-96. The final margin was the game’s biggest, as
the Cavaliers’ bench finished the night on a 12-1 tear.
In beating East for the 14th straight time, Cavs
displayed an offense that was impressive and a defense that was oppressive. The game was a
recurring nightmare for Flynn. Repeated Cavalier steals, followed by spectacular passes,
followed by a layups.
“They whipped our transition defense and
killed us on the offensive boards,” said Flynn. “Those were the two biggest
factors.”
Six Cavs reached double figures. Brian McCullough
scored 16, while Byrd and Mario Sturdivant scored 14 each. Jermaine Miller tallied 11,
while Graham Hosch and Chris Phillips added 10 apiece.
“I was tickled to win. We were very patient
and very unselfish,” said a smiling Everhart. “We cost ourselves a few baskets
with one pass too many, but you can certainly live with that.”
Byrd was everywhere in the first quarter, piling
up 12 quick points, three steals and four assists. Miller, a senior, had seven early
points and combined with Lawing and McCullough to dominate the backboards. McCullough, a
6-5 junior, finished with eight boards and four blocks, while playing roughly half the
game. Twice he rejected shots and motored down for finishing layups on the other end.
“This group has been running and gunning
since junior high,” said McCullough. “We’re going to knock ‘em all
down, one opponent at a time.”
East got knocked down from the outset. It
didn’t score until Justin Miller made a difficult hanger in the lane 4:22 into the
game.
“I was pleased with our intensity and focus
on defense — start to finish,” said Everhart. “East has excellent 3-point
shooters, but we forced the tempo and made them play faster than they wanted to.”
Those East shooters — Miller, AdamCornelius
and Taylor Weber — combined to make only four 3s. Cornelius led East with nine
points.
The Cavs’ pressure defense was so tenacious
that the Mustangs (0-2) managed only one field goal in the entire second quarter, as North
roared to a 50-18 halftime bulge.
North had one dry spell early in the fourth
quarter, but when defensive whiz Alfonzo Miller fouled out, Everhart, who had just 10
healthy players, had to re-insert one of his starters. That turned out to be Sturdivant,
who promptly got hot and got the Cav bandwagon rolling all over again.
“I’m sure losing that tough game the way
they did last night (to South) took something out of East,” said Everhart. “But
I’ve said it from Day one. For our bunch, the sky’s the limit.”
The Cavs made a few more believers last night.
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