By Owen Schwartz
sports@salisburypost.com
LEXINGTON ó Just 24 hours after defeating Ledford handily, the Central Davidson boys were back on the court Wednesday night and won yet again as they defeated the North Rowan boys 52-46 in a CCC matchup.
Central’s Trevor Leonard led all scorers with 26, including 13 in the fourth quarter. Javon Hargrave led the Cavaliers with 19 points while Tristan Gill nearly shot North (5-8, 2-2) back into the game with 16 points.
Hargrave and Gill both scored career highs.
Central’s boys didn’t take control of the game until late in the second quarter. Up 24-16, Leonard hit a 3-pointer that pushed the Spartans ahead by double-digits. It was just one of five 3-pointers in the first half from the Spartans. North coach Kelly Everhart felt those 3s made the difference.
“Give credit to Central óthey did what they had to do tonight to beat us,” Everhart said. “I thought the key was their 3-point shooting in the first half. We just dug ourselves too big a hole.”
Leading by 13 going into the second half, things looked well in hand for the Spartans. However, Gill made three 3-pointers in the third quarter, the last with 2:22 remaining, to cut North’s deficit to 34-31.
The Cavs were helped by some poor shooting and low intensity from the Spartans, who made only two shots from the field in the third quarter.
“We were up 13 at the half and we talked about trying to put a nail in the coffin and not letting them back in the game,” Central coach Brian Hege said. “It was not really a lot they did in the second half ó it was what we did not do. We did not play with any intensity, but luckily Trevor had a big night and made his free throws.”
Leonard had a big fourth quarter. With the score 37-33 in favor of Central he buried his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 5:10 remaining.
The Cavs would not go away, but Leonard sank eight straight free throws to seal the victory.
NORTH rowan (46) ó Hargrave 19, Gill 16, Bell 6, Blakeney 3, Sims 2, Overstreet, Fortson, Feezor.C. DAVIDSON (52) ó Leonard 26, Davis 8, Mays 8, Musgrave 4, Laws 3, Snider 2, Dilley 1, Small, Brown, Everhart.
N. Rowan 11 5 15 15 ó 46
C. Davidson 18 11 7 16 ó 52