By Jordan Honeycutt
sports@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE — As Golden State Warriors head coach and ex-NBA analyst Mark Jackson likes to say “Mama, there goes that man.”
That had to be what was going through the heads of the North Rowan alums as Carlos Dixon rained threes and slashed to the hole at will in South’s 83-76 win in the Scooter Sherrill Throwback tournament Saturday.
Dixon scored 38 points, 22 in the first half, as South staved off a Cavalier rally.
“I got some to fall early and gained a lot of momentum,” Dixon understated. “This is so much fun, though, man, and getting some cardio in for an old man like me is always good too.”
Tristan Rankin seemed to be enjoying his own personal game of H-O-R-S-E with Dixon. During a stretch in the first half, the two traded threes, some fallaways, fadeaways and just straight up treys.
Rankin scored 31 and led the Cavs, who hustled late, trying for steals and more possessions, but great ballhandling from the Raiders and key buckets by Dixon and Tony Propst sealed the deal.
“We did terrible locating their shooters,” Rankin said. “I mean Carlos is going to get his, but we didn’t get out on everybody else and that beat us tonight. We dug too big a hole by being down 17 at halftime to a good group of players like this. But at least we fought back to have a chance to pull it out.”
Former UNC-Asheville star Bryan McCullough was a facilitator in the first half, dishing the ball off and not scoring a single point, but he showed up big like he usually does, netting 19 in the second half, sparking the North Rowan comeback.
“The guys told me at halftime to start being more aggressive and try to take over more,” McCullough said.
“Carlos killed us for sure, but we surely did not lock down everybody else like Tristan said and we had to do that.”
The “other guys” for South were Propst and swingman Steven Heggins, who added 16 and 13 points respectively.
Propst nailed four threes and was 2-for-2 from the line in the clutch to help nail it down, while Heggins sank six of nine from the stripe.
South decided to play “bombs away” during this game as it nailed a staggering 13 triples.
South advances to tomorrow to take on Salisbury in the semifinals, to see who gets a shot at West Rowan for the title.
People may be salivating in anticipation of a Carlos versus Scooter final, but South knows not to overlook the Hornets.
SOUTH ROWAN (83)— Dixon 38, Propst 16, Heggins 13, Chapman 5, Cross 5, Honeycutt 3, Brown 2, Parks, Osterhus, Pauley..
NORTH ROWAN (76) — Rankin 31, McCullough 19, Starks 10, House 6, Suber 4, Geter 3, Kesler 3, Blackwell, Mitchell.
South Rowan 49 34 — 83
North Rowan 32 44 — 76