By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
CONCORD ó South Rowan coach John Davis and player John Davis are a father/son team on and off the floor.
“What that means,” the older Davis said, “is he takes a few more butt-chewings than the rest of them.”
The older, larger John Davis was a CPC Player of the Year for South, and the son is providing fewer reasons to chew his rear end each week. He used to be “Little John,” but as a senior, he’s moved up to at least “Medium-sized John.”
Davis had another good night on Tuesday, scoring a career-best 26 points in a 68-52 win against Cox Mill.
He actually scored 17 straight for South ó the last 12 in the first half and the first five in the second.
Cox Mill (0-5) never did find a way to handle Davis in the paint. B.J. Grant and Blake Houston kept finding ways to get the ball to the hot hand, and Davis moved constantly to get himself open.
“B.J. did a great job dishing down. That’s the reason I scored so much,” Davis said.
Grant had a great game, with 13 points, 11 boards, five assists and four blocks. Mark McDaniel scored 14 points. Houston added 12.
For Cox Mill, Jake Hall supplied a reason for a purple-clad student section that billed itself as “The Maniacs” to cheer. He scored 21.
South (3-4) enjoyed a blistering start ó two 3s by Houston, one by Davis ó for an immediate 9-0 lead, but that convinced the Raiders they should fire nothing but 3s.
“When those went in, we started thinking we’re a 3-point shooting team, and that’s not really our game,” Coach Davis said. “We need to drive and get on the foul line. We got away from that.”
Cox Mill produced a solid second quarter and trailed by only 33-30 at halftime.
South turned to the passing skills of Houston, the football team’s quarterback, and the big-play abilities of McDaniel, to break the game open late in the third quarter.
On back-to-back inbounds plays, Houston fired 70-foot post patterns over Cox Mill’s press and hit McDaniel in stride. McDaniel, the county’s most dangerous football return man, finished strong both times, and South’s lead swelled from a shaky nine to a reasonably comfortable 13.
“Blake threw a couple of good deep balls,” Coach Davis said. “The defense came up, and Mark broke long. That gave us breathing room.”
South slowed the tempo in the fourth quarter, Cox Mill went ice cold in its huge, chilly gym, and the Raiders cruised to the finish line.
“We played pretty good, played together,” the younger Davis said. “We did play dumb for a little while after we made those quick 3s, but then we got it back together.”
South plays at Salisbury tonight.
south ROWAN (68) ó Davis 26, McDaniel 14, Grant 13, Houston 12, Gaddy 2, Dessasore 1, Sharpe, Akers, Glaspy, Honeycutt, Archie, Henderson.
cox mill (52) ó Hall 21, Brown 11, Judge 9, Horner 5, Sumter 2, Padgett 2, Opara 2, Harris, Nicholson, Myers.
S. Rowan 16 17 24 11 ó 68
Cox Mill 9 21 16 6 ó 52