Published 12:00 am Saturday, February 16, 2013
WELCOME — The Davie County War Eagles have so many ways to beat you on the basketball court, you kind of have to pick your poison.
Using just about every weapon in their arsenal Friday night at North Davidson, the War Eagles rained on North Davidson’s Senior Night parade, 93-54, to close out their Central Piedmont conference regular season.
The transition game was working, the defense was tight and there were plenty of high-flying dunks and strong rebounds. But the most consistent weapon on this night was their 3-point shooting. Davie (6-4, 17-5) poured in 13 bombs from beyond the arc, four each by twin guards Austin and Taylor Hatfield plus four from 6-foot-6 Caleb Martin who was impresive inside and outside with a game high 26 points.
The Hatfields are not only twins but they think alike and tend to finish each other’s sentences.
“We were just feeling it tonight, Austin said…. “and we were moving the ball really well, “Taylor chimed in. “We were making the pass all game to get wide open shots then penetrating the gaps and kicking it out,” Austin added. “We just have to do that more often.” Taylor concluded.
The Black Knights were impressive with 10 treys of their own but could not generate much else on offense, especially inside against the other twins Cody and Caleb Martin and Kenyon Tatum. Davie spurted out to a quick 30-15 lead in the first period as Caleb Martin and Austin Hatfield hit two treys each.
The Black Knights (9-14, 2-8) then made their move early in the second quarter with an 11-0 run on threes by Brandon Easter, Carter Skotthy and Eli Moore. With their lead cut to 33-26, the War Eagles turned it up a notch by rolling up a 17-2 run over the final five minutes of the half to take a 55-30 lead, essentially ending the game. Three long range bombs by Taylor Hatfield keyed the outburst, in the final 30 seconds of the half that stuck the dagger in and twisted it.
Black Knight coach Sammy Staten could only shake his head at the sudden turn of events. He tried a man defense then a zone, then back to man but nothing could slow the Davie inside-out attack.
“On a night like tonight it doesn’t matter who’s guarding them, “Staten said. “It’s tough when they are going in like it did tonight … they are a great team.”
The 25 point halftime lead expanded quickly in the third period to 78-45 as Caleb Martn scored 10 points and his borther Cody added eight more.
War Eagle coach Mike Absher was especially pleased with the unselfish nature of his team.
“I like the fact we had 19 assists as a team,” Absher said. “And I just thought we shared the ball real well plus our defense was very good especially in the second period.”
He feels they are truly peaking heading into the CPC tourney.
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NOTES: Davie’s girls won 75-66 behind Amy Stellar’s 32 points including an amazing 19 for 19 at the foul line.
DAVIE (93) — Cody Martin 26, Caleb Martin 22, A. Hatfield 20, T. Hatfield 12, Carney 6, Tatum 4, Colamarino 2, Banner 1, Boyette, Bennett, Parnell.
NORTH DAVIDSON (54) — B. Easter 13, Mitchell 11, Wooten 8, Moore 7, Phillips 5, Skotthy 5, C. Easter 3, Cunningham 2, Arrowood, McDowell, Tuttle, Santana.
Davie 30 25 23 15 — 93
N. Davidson 15 15 15 9 — 54