By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
After being beaten soundly by South Rowan in its first game of the Moir Christmas Classic, you’d think Davie coach Mike Absher wouldn’t be very upbeat going into his second-round game against East Rowan on Tuesday.
Wrong.
“I couldn’t wait to get out there and see what we could do,” Absher said.
What his War Eagles did was put on a clinic in shooting the basketball, passing the basketball and rebounding the basketball. The end result was a 81-46 thrashing of the Mustangs.
East coach Jim Lankford was left shaking his head. Davie hit 11 threes, dished out 24 assists and corralled 40 rebounds.
This was the third meeting between the teams, prompting Lankford to muse, “It should be easier, don’t you think?
“We knew exactly what they were going to do. We knew their personnel. We knew them better than anybody else we’ve played.”
None of that really mattered on this day because Davie (7-5) was hitting on all cylinders from the opening tip.
East (2-9) trailed just 13-10 midway through the first after Omar Gittens hit two baskets and Riley Weber followed with a layup. But Jamal Mayfield hit three straight layups and the rout was on. It was 22-12 after one quarter and all 10 baskets came inside.
Then, Davie showed its outside touch and gradually pulled away. Nate Jones, Mayfield and Michael Key drilled threes before halftime and it was 39-22 at the break.
The War Eagles’ final four baskets of the third quarter were 3-point land and it was 62-36 going into the final period.
“The key today was getting it out quick and making some shots,” Absher said. “We share the ball as well as any team we’ve had here in a long time.”
The final totals went like this. Not only did Davie put four in double figures, led by Mayfield’s 20, it had 19 fast-break points and its bench outscored East 30-11.
Lankford was certainly impressed.
“We went to our bench and they went to their bench and the lead still grew,” he said. “They’re so balanced and they execute so well.”
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NOTES: Shannon Dillard had a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards. … Phillip Ajayi led East with 11. Gittens had 10. … Davie faces West Rowan today at 1:30. West beat Davie by 19 recently. “That’s the great thing about this tournament,” Absher said. “You don’t play anybody that’s not good.”
e. Rowan (46) ó Ajayi 11, O. Gittens 10, Honeycutt 9, H. Gittens 5, Weber 4, Sells 3, Driver 2, Troutman 1, Joshua 1, Rogers, Wilson, Watkins, Curlee.
Davie (81) ó Mayfield 20, Dillard 14, N. Jones 11, Key 10, Absher 9, Slabach 6, Redmon 4, Ray 3, Neely 2, Wilson 2, Whaley, Simmons, T. Jones, Grant.
E. Rowan 12 10 14 10 ó 46
Davie 22 17 23 19 ó 81