By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó Northwest Cabarrus’ 6-foot-6 Ira Hines threw down a dunk. Three seconds later, he threw a South Rowan shot into the waiting arms of a rowdy Raider fan in the front row of the bleachers.
Hines was a serious problem for a small South team Tuesday, and the Raiders never found a solution in an 80-66 NPC loss to the Trojans.
Hines, a senior who has signed with UNC Pembroke, finished with 21 points, 19 rebounds and six blocks.
“With his height and his reach, he had a foot on us,” South coach John Davis said.
Hunter Morrison scored a season-low 18 points for the Raiders. Reid Shaver had 15 points and eight boards in a rough game that only needed ice, sticks and two goalies to be turned into a hockey match.
“What South lacks in size, they more than make up with in toughness,” Northwest coach Daniel Jenkins said. “The first half, I thought they got a lot of calls, but they got them by being the more physical, aggressive team. The second half, we came out and played a lot more aggressive.”
Northwest surprised South by playing a point zone that was directed specifically at limiting the penetration of Morrison, who had been devastating in South’s first three games.
The zone worked. Morrison had to shoot 3s instead of layups, and when he did find an open teammate, it was still tough to finish with Hines lurking in the paint.
“They stopped penetration, forced us to shoot it, and we settled a lot for that first look,” Davis said.
South (2-2, 1-1) shot 28 percent in the first half and was fortunate to trail 30-27 at halftime. Hines had 14 points and nine boards at the break.
“Ira can be a little lazy on defense at times, but tonight his offense got his defense going,” Jenkins said. “He had such a height advantage we really emphasized getting him the ball, even if we had to force it in there to him.”
The Trojans (4-2, 2-1) had a burst at the start of the third quarter that gave them control the rest of the way.
Tyler Honeycutt made two free throws before Jordan Brand and Jeff Felton scored transition buckets off South turnovers.
“We didn’t help ourselves any with those points they got at the start of the second half,” Davis said. “You’re down three, then all of a sudden it’s nine.”
Northwest’s next spree was provided by the right arm of Graham Wright, who buried back-to-back 3s to push a six-point edge out to 47-35 with 4:39 left in the third quarter.
South fought within five points early in the fourth quarter, but Brand hit a 3-pointer after a wild scramble. The shot deflated the Raiders, who had expended lots of energy coming back.Juwan Reid, who had nine of his 11 points after halftime, finished off South with steals and athletic drives.
“It was a rough game, but it was physical both ways,” Morrison said. “It’s not like we can blame the officials or anything. The biggest thing was their zone. It made it tough to penetrate, and even when we did get looks, we just couldn’t hit anything.”
Reid, who has been fighting an ankle injury, was awarded the silver, plumed Trojan helmet that Jenkins always gives to his player of the game. Reid wore it proudly into the parking lot.
Jenkins will have to expand his awards budget. He needed a spear or a shield for Hines.
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NOTES: Northwest got two 3s from Justin Seager, brother of UNC infielder Kyle Seager. … Addison Corriher and Steven Johnson scored 10 each for South. … B.J. Grant rejected one of Hines’ shots to produce a roar from the crowd.NWC (80) ó Hines 21, Reid 11, Wright 11, Felton 9, Brand 9, Honeycutt 7, Seager 6, Kiser 4, Murrell 2, West, Kingston.
SOUTH ROWAN (66) ó Morrison 18, Shaver 15, Corriher 10, Johnson 10, Davis 6, Grant 5, Walker 2, Bowles, Houston.
NWC 14 16 24 26 ó 80
S. Rowan 10 17 18 21 ó 66