Area Athletes Update

Published 12:00 am Monday, January 27, 2014

Carlos Dixon (South Rowan) is 32 years old now, but there’s still plenty of life in his long legs.

The 6-foot-7 Dixon still holds South’s school record for points in a season (610 in 1999) and is still putting the ball in the hoop. He had 39 points in his most recent outing in Japan to lead the Gunma Thunder Cranes to a 112-108 victory. Dixon shot 3-for-4 on 3s and was 14-for-15 at the foul line.

Dixon averages 20.7 poings, 7.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists.

• Junior Hairston’s (West Rowan) most recent outing in Iceland was pretty quiet for him — 13 points, nine rebounds — but he’s averaging 23.2 points and 13.9 boards for the season.

College men’s hoops

Brothers K.J. and Keshun Sherrill (West) were instrumental in GRU Augusta’s 92-70 win at UNC Pembroke on Saturday. K.J. had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Keshun shot 6-for-8 and scored 16 points.

Augusta (15-2) is ranked 25th in Division II.

• Darius Moose (Carson) scored 21 points and had seven rebounds for Brevard in an 85-69 loss to Wingate on Saturday. Moose had 22 points and eight boards in a 75-65 loss to Anderson on Wednesday.

Moose is fourth in the SAC in scoring (20.0 ppg) and seventh in rebounding with 7.2 per game.

• Mars Hill’s Isaiah Cuthbertson (West) had 12 points and seven rebounds in Saturday’s 87-61 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne. Cuthbertson had eight points and four rebounds in an 88-60 loss to Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday. Cuthberson is second in the SAC in rebounding with 9.1 per game.

• Teven Jones (A.L. Brown) had a steal and a dunk in Virginia’s 65-45 romp against Virginia Tech on Saturday.

• Roanoke’s Alex Weant (Salisbury) had two points and three rebounds in an 81-61 win against Emory & Henry. He also scored two in a 70-57 loss to Randolph-Macon.

Women’s hoops

Jessica Heilig (Salisbury) scored a career-high 21 points for Gardner-Webb in Saturday’s 59-56 win against Presbyterian. Heilig had seven rebounds and blocked three shots.

Doreen Richardson (Salisbury) had two assists for the Bulldogs.

• Charlotte’s Ayanna Holmes (Salisbury) had eight points and five rebounds in Saturday’s 58-53 win against Rice at Halton Arena. Holmes shot 4-for-6 to break out of a shooting slump.

• Shay Steele (West) had four points, five rebounds and two blocks for Morehead State in an 87-70 loss to Tennessee State on Saturday.

• Temple’s Shi-Heria Shipp (Salisbury) scored four points in a 74-70 loss to Penn and had five rebounds and two steals in a 74-68 loss to Rutgers.

• Pfeiffer’s Amy Steller (Davie) scored six points in a 73-43 loss to Limestone on Saturday.

• Alison Sobataka (West) had nine points and six rebounds in Columbia’s 61-48 loss to Reinhardt on Saturday.

College baseball

Catawba leaves Thursday for Florida to begin the season. The Indians start play Feb. 1.

Senior pitcher John J. Tuttle (A.L. Brown), junior center fielder Blake Houston (South) and senior second baseman Julio Zubillaga (Carson) are again expected to be key players for the Indians.

Senior Jon Wallace (NW Cabarrus) will see action at catcher, and pitchers Ethan Free (Carson) and Joe Watson (Davie) could make an impact this season.

• Brevard opens Feb. 4 against Montreat. Kevin Hamilton (NW Cabarrus) is a returning pitcher for the Tornados, and infielder Parker Hubbard (South), a redshirt freshman, is on the roster.

Major League baseball

Just prior to Friday’s deadline to exchange salary figures for arbitration, the New York Mets agreed to terms on a one-year deal with closer Bobby Parnell (East Rowan). The deal is worth a reported $3.7 million — plus incentives.

College football

Former Arkansas Razorback Chris Smith (West) reportedly wowed scouts in practices for the Senior Bowl.

The 266-pound defensive end caught the attention of the crowd Tuesday with a spin move around North Dakota State tackle Billy Turner. “There wasn’t a single offensive lineman Tuesday who looked comfortable blocking him,” wrote Chicago Bears reporter Adam Hoge.

“He had the best hands of any South pass rusher,” wrote Mike Loyko of New England Patriots Draft.com.

“He was a violent hand-fighter in 1-on-1s and combined it with a strong upper body to dominate.”

In Saturday’s game won by Smith’s South team, Smith made two tackles and broke up a pass.

• Former A.L. Brown quarterback Martel Campbell, a junior receiver at Davidson, made the Pioneer League honor roll. Campbell is an economics major.

Track and field

North Carolina Central’s Christa Landy (West) ran on a third-place 4×400 team in the Tar Heel Open.

Landy was 10th in the 400 (1:00.8).

• Western Carolina’s Alisha Bradshaw (Salisbury) placed third in the weight throw (57-9 3/4) in the Tar Heel Open. Western’s Keith Leonard (East Rowan) was sixth in the pole vault (14-11) at Chapel Hill.

• Wingate’s Omar Ray (A.L. Brown) was sixth in the 400 in Chapel Hill (51.54 seconds) and ran on a fourth-place 4×400 team.• Tennessee’s Tavis Bailey (A.L. Brown) threw a personal-best 60 feet, 1 inch in the shot put in a high-powered meet at Lexington, Ky. Bailey placed fifth. He also was sixth in the weight throw.

Gymnastics

Courtney Bisbe (Carson) had a career-best score of 9.75 in the vault in N.C. State’s gymnastics meet at West Virginia on Sunday. Bisbe had a 9.7 on the parallel bars.