CHINA GROVE — Burly Myquon Stout soared for a tip-in, punched the air with a mighty fist, and then the shot-putting phenom sprinted down the floor to enthusiastically take a charge.

Ninety percent of Carson’s energy was coming from Stout in Monday’s first round of the 3A playoffs, and when he had to leave the floor with his fourth foul, it was the turning point.

Carson led by 14 points when Stout got that fourth whistle on a twisting, and-one drive by Brandon Watts late in the third quarter. Weddington overwhelmed the Cougars the rest of the way to win 69-61. Carson was outscored 38-16 the last 11 minutes.

“That was huge when No. 34 (Stout) got his fourth foul,” Weddington coach Gary Ellington said. “He wasn’t scoring a lot of points, but he was getting so many offensive rebounds and he was moving all of our guys out of position.”

Carson coach Brian Perry was shorthanded with streak-shooting guard Jacob Raper very ill, and foul trouble for Stout and D.J. Love proved too much to overcome.

“Myquon has played really great lately, and he’s always our defensive anchor,” Perry said. “We just didn’t put any stops together without him. We scored 61, and we’re usually successful if we can score 61, but not tonight.”

Tre Williams scored 20 for Carson. Colton Laws had 17.

Seniors Love, Rameiq Howard (11 points) and Andrew Purcell closed their careers for the eighth-seeded Cougars, who finished 17-11, the second-best season in school history.

Ninth-seeded Weddington (15-12) got 22 points from Watts and 17 from Chris Trevisan and moves on to a second-round matchup at No. 1 seed Concord.

Carson showed no hangover from the beating it took from Statesville in the NPC tournament championship game. It played OK in the first quarter, then dominated the second.

Weddington went 1-for-4 at the foul line in the second quarter, and two misses were one-and-ones. Williams had two 3s and 13 points by halftime, and Carson led 32-23 at the break.

“We knew he was a good guard,” Ellington said. “But he surprised us with his shooting.”

Weddington was turning it over frequently early in the third quarter and was on the verge of being knocked out.

When Laws hit a free throw with 3:07 left in the quarter, Carson’s evening peaked with a 45-31 advantage.

“We were right where we wanted to be, “ Perry said.

But Watts’ three-point play and Stout’s fourth foul came next. When Watts hit a 3-pointer for the last points of the third quarter, the Warriors were within eight — and they kept coming. They got layups or free throws at will in a sizzling, 32-point fourth quarter.

“We just didn’t ‘D’ up in that fourth quarter,” Stout said.

Watts buried a 3 to put Weddington on top with 2:25 left, and Carson didn’t lead again.

“We’re young and when we’ve gotten in a hole, we’ve stayed down,” Ellington said. “This was the first time we’ve been able to fight back.”

The Cougars looked stunned as they filed from the locker room. Laws summed things up.

“When a season ends, it never feels quite right,” he said. “But you have to give Weddington credit. They just kept coming back at us point by point.”

WEDDINGTON (69) —Watts 22, Trevisan 17, Waud 11, Barber 10, Ospechuk 5, Hearne 3, Sharpe 1, Nicastro, Granger, Oates.

CARSON (61) — Williams 20, Laws 17, Howard 11, Stout 5, Love 4, McCain 4, Raper, Hower.

Weddington 12 11 14 32 — 69

Carson 14 18 13 16 — 61