By Bill Kiser

Kannapolis Citizen

Just looking at the schedule, one would think A.L. Brown’s boys and girls basketball teams had an easy week since the Wonders only had one game.

But both Brown squads face the prospect of bouncing back from tough losses to long-time rival Concord with three games over the next seven days.

The Wonders will host Parkwood in a South Piedmont Conference doubleheader on Tuesday, then hit the road for their next two games — a non-conference tilt at Salisbury on Friday, followed by a SPC matchup against Piedmont in Monroe on Jan. 16.

A.L. Brown’s boys will try to snap out of a recent spate of losses — two straight and three of its last four, including an embarrassing 84-58 thrashing by the Spiders on Jan. 5.

In that game, Concord — which has four starters back from last year’s state 3A runner-up team — led 19-6 after the first quarter, then blew the game open with a 34-9 run in the second to go ahead 53-15 at the break.

“Yeah, we had a tough time,” Wonders head coach Shelwyn Klutz said.

“They’re very talented, and they’ve got two guys — Lance Lewis and Dee Bost — who are the best two guards in the state, in my opinion. We just couldn’t keep up with them.”

“They’re seasoned — both are four-year starters — and they’ve got so much experience and so much talent that it’s hard to match up against guys like that.”

The loss left Brown (9-5, 3-1) tied atop the South Piedmont standings with Porter Ridge, with Concord in third at 2-1 (10-3 overall).

The tiebreaker goes the Wonders way at this point. But they also have rematches against both Porter Ridge at home on Jan. 26 and at Concord on Jan. 30.

“I hope they learn from that experience, but forget about it at the same time,” Klutz said. “We’ve got to bounce back from this and get in some good practices, then turn around and play Parkwood. We’ve got to show up and play hard.”

A.L. Brown’s girls (5-9, 1-3) are also looking to bounce back from a 46-36 loss to Concord last week. It was Brown’s second straight loss and third in its last four games.

In that game, the Spiders — who are tied atop the SPC standings with Piedmont at 3-0 — used an 11-3 first quarter to take control of the game and overcome a 23-point effort by Wonders forward Marla Powell.

The loss also leaves A.L. Brown in a three-way tie for fifth — with Anson County and Porter Ridge — in the league standings, just one-half game behind Parkwood’s 1-2 mark.