By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó South Rowan’s Hunter Morrison crouched at the foul line for a free throw with 0.7 seconds on the scoreboard clock.
South and Carson were tied. Morrison could see dozens of South students raising their arms high, eager to make the “whoosh” gesture. He didn’t even want to peek at the screaming sea of orange in the packed bleachers behind him, but he could hear a roar like thunder.
Morrison’s free throw was dead-center. South won 56-55.
“That free throw was crazy,” Morrison said. “So loud I couldn’t really think about anything. Tough to make ’em in that situation.”
Morrison, who had airballed a free throw earlier, made his biggest one.
It was a huge win for South (11-10, 8-7 NPC) and a devastating loss for Carson (10-11, 6-9 NPC). Had Carson won, South and Cougars would have been even in the standings.
Darius Moose led the charge for the Cougars, scoring 21 points.
Morrison had 11 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. Reserves Dakota Walker and John Davis delivered 10 points apiece for South.
South owned the first half, with B.J. Grant and Addison Corriher hitting the offensive glass hard. When Reid Shaver threw down a skywalking dunk to end the first quarter, South led 16-11, and the Raiders pushed to a 27-18 edge at halftime.”We had all kinds of intensity in the second half, but what disappointed me was we got that intensity at halftime and not pregame,” Carson coach Brian Perry said. “The first half, South got a lot of second chances with their rebounding and they chased down all the loose balls.”
South’s lead was 32-21 early in the third quarter when Carson took off on an 8-0 run. Moose capped it with a coast-to-coast cruise.
“We got a little bit comfortable,” South coach John Davis said. “We stopped flowing and started forcing.”
Carson kept momentum into the fourth quarter, and took a 47-45 lead with 2:11 remaining when Brandon Ferrare scooped in a lob pass from Nick Houston. Davis called timeout and told Morrison to take charge.
Derrick Sewell’s defense was fine, but Morrison made a tough jumper to tie. After Shaver took a charge, Morrison banked in a heavily defended pullup over Sewell’s outstretched arm. Moose answered to tie, but Morrison drove and kicked to Blake Houston, who buried a 3 from the corner for a 52-49 lead.
“They got the lead, but we showed composure, took a deep breath, calmed down and got it back,” Coach Davis said.
South then stretched its edge to 55-49 with free throws by Shaver and Morrison. There were 35 seconds left.
“We thought it was over,” Morrison said. “But then Carson made two big-time shots.”
South missed a defensive assignment, and Josh Doby swished a right-wing 3-pointer. After South missed a free throw, Cody Clanton drilled a deep 3 from the left wing to make it 55-all with 16 seconds left.
South called timeout with 8.4 seconds left and put the ball in Morrison’s hands. He waited and waited as South fans pleaded for him to make a move. Finally, he went left. With two seconds left, still 28 feet from the hoop, he got tangled up with Sewell’s leg as the Cougar slid over. A whistle blew, South was in the double-bonus and Morrison had two free ones.He missed the first. After Perry called timeout and the noise escalated even more, he swished the second.
“Didn’t miss that first one just to make it interesting,” Morrison said with a sigh. “I’m just really happy the second one went in.”
carson (55) óMoose 21, Doby 11, Ferrare 8, N. Houston 8, Clanton 3, Britt 2, Sewell 2, Begic.
south rowan (56) ó Morrison 14, Davis 10, Walker 10, B. Houston 7, Johnson 7, Shaver 5, Corriher 3, Grant. Carson 11 7 21 16 ó 55
S. Rowan 16 11 10 19 ó 56