By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
MOCKSVILLE ó Six years ago, Mike Absher arrived at Davie County High School as its new basketball coach. He noticed a seventh-grader named Lowery playing pretty darn well.
Absher didn’t think much about it. The kid was the son of wrestling coach Buddy Lowery. And a wrestling coach’s son doesn’t play basketball.
Does he?
Eric Lowery was indeed a basketball player. A very good one. And he will continue playing the sport in college, signing with coach Dave Davis and Pfeiffer.
“Buddy always told me, ‘He’s a basketball player,’ ” Absher laughed. “It’s a great story.”
Lowery turned out to be Absher’s point guard and helped the War Eagles to a 13-13 record in his senior season. He averaged just under 10 points and dished out an average of six assists per game.
The 6-footer played his best against the Central Piedmont Conference’s best teams. He had 19 points and five assists against Mount Tabor and racked up a double-double against Reynolds (13 points, 10 assists). His career-high of 21 points came against North Davidson.
“He’s a true point guard,” Absher said. “His basketball IQ is tremendous, and his ability to push the ball and defend makes him a great fit for Pfeiffer. He can get the ball from Point A to Point B as quickly as anybody.”
He definitely will be pushing the ball at Pfeiffer, annually one of Division II’s top scoring teams.
“Point guard is a very difficult position to play anywhere and especially at Pfeiffer,” Davis said.
Lowery, who is also a scholar-athlete, was Pfeiffer’s first signee this year and joins a team that won 21 games and was ranked 12th nationally despite losing six players to season-ending injuries. The Falcons lose just two seniors.
Davis is known for shuffling players in and out at a rapid pace. Absher says that won’t be a problem for Lowery.
“Eric watched them play about four times,” Absher said. “He understands the Pfeiffer system with the rotation of a lot of players.”
Absher says his gym rat put in countless hours before his senior season and became more marketable in college coaches’ eyes because of an increase in scoring.Pretty good for a wrestling coach’s son, huh?
“I don’t know how much he thought about wrestling,” Absher smiled, “but he is a basketball player. Definitely a basketball player.”