By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
– – See a gallery of photos from the game here. – – South Rowan’s Blake Houston misfired on a 3-pointer from the left wing, but Brad Akers raced in from the top of the key and banked in a one-handed tip.
Rare misses by the Raiders still resulted in productive possessions.
Houston hit four 3-pointers and scored 20 points for sixth-seeded South, which shot 55 percent from the field during a 68-50 victory against third-seeded Davie County in an opening-round game of the Sam Moir Christmas Classic on Monday.
“It’s a good example of mentally not being ready to play,” Davie coach Mike Absher said. “I give South Rowan credit for making shots, and they played harder than we did. The game got off to a decent start for us, but you could tell on the defensive end we didn’t have the intensity we were going to have to have to win. We were not sprinting back, especially in our press.
“Those are some things that were happening early that I knew were not a good sign.”
South (5-6) outscored a bigger opponent 38-16 in the paint and, with help from Akers and Mark McDaniel, finished with a 31-5 advantage in bench points. The Raiders scored 26 points off 16 turnovers from Davie (6-5).
Akers went 5 of 6 from the field in a 13-point performance, and McDaniel (6-for-10) grabbed six rebounds to go along with his 12 points. B.J. Grant joined them in double figures with 10 points, and John Davis had six steals.
Davie’s best perimeter defender guarded Davis, and South often countered by having quick players such as Houston or McDaniel handle the ball in a spread-out set.
“We’ve got two other guys that can dribble the basketball,” South coach John Davis said. “We’ve got three guys that can dribble the basketball. We’ve got four that can dribble the basketball. We’ve got five because we’re all guards.
“We had a little bit of a mismatch, and I thought with B.J. being out front it created some mismatch problems for them because their big had to come away from the basket and B.J. was quick enough to drive by them. Help comes and it’s just a simple kick.”
Successful drives created layups or passes for open 3-point looks for South, which will face North Rowan today in a semifinal at 4:30 p.m. inside Catawba’s Goodman Gym.
Houston made two long-range jumpers in the first quarter and two more in the opening four minutes of a second half in which the Raiders shot 63 percent.
“I haven’t really ever shot well in this gym,” Houston said. “I hit a few today; in warmups I felt good. That helped out a little bit, got my confidence up.”
Davie, paced by Jamal Mayfield’s 15 points, led 17-13 before South closed the first quarter with a 9-0 run. Akers and Houston drilled 3s in the last 1:07.
The Raiders seized control by starting the second quarter with a 9-2 run. Grant accounted for seven of the points, including a three-point play at the end of a wild sequence.
Akers fired an alley-oop pass to Grant, who nearly threw home a one-handed dunk. He came up with the loose ball, drew a foul on a putback and made the free throw.
“B.J., he jumps well and gets up in a hurry and plays hard,” coach John Davis said. “That’s a huge part of the game.”
n
NOTE: Davie will face East Rowan today in a consolation game at 1:30 p.m. … South shot 12-for-19 in the second half and 27-for-49 overall. … Shannon Dillard led Davie with nine rebounds.
SOUTH ROWAN (68) ó Houston 20, Akers 13, McDaniel 12, Grant 10, Davis 7, Glaspy 3, Honeycutt 3, Dessasore, Sharpe, Gaddy, Henderson, Maxwell.
DaVIE COUNTY (50) ó Mayfield 15, Neely 10, Jones 8, Dillard 6, Absher 6, Key 3, Redmon 2, Whaley, Slabach, Simmons, Ray.
South Rowan 22 15 15 16 ó 68
Davie County 17 10 10 13 ó 50