By Nick Bowton

Salisbury Post

SPENCER — So this is what a basketball team is supposed to look like. This is what North Rowan meant to do in its first 11 games.

The Cavaliers, off to the worst start in school history, won their first game of the season Tuesday night. North fed the ball into the post, found open shooters on the perimeter, finally got a balanced scoring attack and defeated East Davidson 60-51.

“Throughout the year, we have done some really good things at different times,” North coach Kelly Everhart said. “It just seems like we’ll do it for a short period of time and then we go into a slump. Thank goodness tonight we just played a steady, even ballgame the whole time through.

“It wasn’t spectacular by any means, but certainly it feels good to get that one in the win column.”

The Cavs got this one because they employed a simple strategy — pass the ball inside, then pass it back out.

That formula led to a game-high 22 points by freshman forward Winslow Cherry and 10 3-pointers as a team. And the gameplan worked for four quarters, something North isn’t used to.

“We were fighting hard, fighting hard, but we’d fight hard for one or two quarters,” Cherry said of North’s losing streak. “We finally fought hard through all four quarters — and pulled it out.”

Cherry established himself as an inside presence early, scoring seven points during the Cavs’ 10-2 run to end the first quarter. In the second quarter, North (1-11, 1-2 CCC) turned to its shooters to widen its lead.

Spencer Sheets hit back-to-back 3s from the right corner, point guard Bryson Gaymon hit one from the left and Joe Kesler scored his only points on a 3 from the left wing as North went on a 12-2 run midway through the quarter.

“We expected Sheets to take his share, maybe make his share,” East Davidson coach John Cherry said. “We certainly didn’t expect to have as many different people hitting them.”

That trend continued in the second half.

When the Golden Eagles

(2-11, 1-2) answered North’s 12-2 run with a 10-2 run to end the first half, they trailed just

28-25. North, however, once again went to its inside-out game to regain momentum.

Cherry scored six points in the third quarter, while Daniel Griffith, Derrick Burnett and Gaymon all hit 3s. Griffith and Burnett made a 3-pointer apiece in the fourth quarter as well, and North held on despite going 4-of-11 from the free-throw line in the final quarter.

“It’s a relief, but, of course, it’s only one win,” said Griffith, a senior who had eight points and a team-high nine rebounds. “So we’re still not satisfied. But we feel like with the core of our conference coming up, we have a chance for a fresh start and to prove that we can play.”

E. Davidson (51) — Darr 13, Miller 10, Mouzon 9, Callicut 8, Michael 4, Lambeth 4, Workman 3, J.Ward.

north rowan (60) — Cherry 22, Sheets 11, Griffith 8, Gaymon 7, Burnett 7, Kesler 3, Hargrave 2, Walker, Still, N.Smith, Lewallen, L.Smith.

E. Davidson 6 19 10 16 — 51

N. Rowan 12 16 16 16 — 60

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Contact Nick Bowton at 704-797-4256 or nbowton@salisburypost.com.