By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó Robinson’s Elijah Hampton, standing just in front of his team’s bench, shrugged his shoulders after banking in a 3-pointer to end the third quarter Tuesday.
The Bulldogs weren’t done drilling 3s against South Rowan.
Robinson made a total of 14, including 11 during a second half in which it erased a 20-point deficit. The Raiders fell behind for good with 32.2 seconds left and lost 75-71 on their home court.
“This one hurts,” South coach John Davis said. “Up like we were, 20 points in the third quarter, and you give up 50-plus points in the second half. That’s way too many.”
Mark McDaniel picked up a steal and fired ahead to South’s Quan Glaspy for a game-tying layup with 45 seconds left. Robinson’s Zach Fandl broke the tie with a free throw.
He missed his second try, but Hampton grabbed the offensive rebound. He made a putback while drawing a foul and then hit his free throw for a 73-69 advantage. A turnover in the backcourt led to an easy layup for Antonio Francis.
South allowed 31 points in the fourth quarter and 54 in the second half.
“Bottom line, we should have finished it off early in the third quarter,” Davis said. “We missed some shots and got impatient with what we do offensively, and they were able to knock down some 3s. Then they started believing they could get back in the ballgame.”
South guard John Davis, the coach’s son, scored a team-high 14 points. B.J. Grant (13 points, nine boards), Blake Houston (11 points), Brad Akers (11 points) and Glaspy (10 points) also reached double figures.
The Raiders (1-2) jumped ahead 20-7, led by as many as 22 points in the first half and owned a 43-23 advantage early in the third quarter.
Five 3-pointers from Robinson (3-0) trimmed South’s lead to 54-44 by the end of the quarter, and Ross Gadd hit four of his team’s six 3-pointers in the final eight minutes.”Ross Gadd just went unconscious when we needed him,” Robinson coach Joe Pike said.
Hampton scored all 27 of his points in the final 21/2 quarters. Gadd finished with six 3-pointers and 22 points.
The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game at 63-62 on Hampton’s floater with 3:14 remaining. Glaspy answered with a three-point play, and Robinson inched ahead by one on Gadd’s final 3-pointer.
Jacob Allen was effective at finding open teammates from his spot at the high post, and a 3-pointer from Hampton pushed the Bulldogs in front 69-64 with 1:06 remaining.
Grant’s layup off a feed from Houston and Glaspy’s basket pulled South even.
“They got some decent looks, but some of those shots were contested,” coach John Davis said. “They just made some nice shots.”
ROBINSON (75) ó Hampton 27, Gadd 22, Smotherson 5, Koerner 5, Allen 5, Fandl 4, Potts 3, Francis 2, Bostick 2, Webber.
SOUTH ROWAN (71) ó Davis 14, Grant 13, Houston 11, Akers 11, Glaspy 10, Dessasore 6, McDaniel 4, Henderson 2, Gaddy, Sharpe, Maxwell.
Robinson 10 11 23 31 ó 75
S. Rowan 24 14 16 17 ó 71