Area athletes update …
SALISBURY — Brevard junior Darius Moose joked about scoring 44 points — that’s how many he needed for 1,000 for his career — when he home to play against Catawba.
Moose drilled an early 3-pointer and made some tough drives and nice cuts for layups, but the Indians held him to 15 and beat Brevard 90-79 at Goodman Gym.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Moose praised the defense of Catawba big men Tyrece Little (6-8) and Vismantas Marijosius (6-6). He also was hampered by a hand injury and the after-effects of a hard fall after Marijosius crashed into him on a layup attempt, although he stayed in the game.
“I jammed my hand pretty bad,” Moose said. “I think that’s why I missed so many free throws (he was 4-for-9). I missed two free throws that would’ve given us the lead, and that’s not me. Missed free throws killed us today.”
Moose scored 32 when the Indians won at Brevard.
“Moose is a tough matchup because he’s so thick it’s tough for a guard to handle him, but he’s too quick for the big guys,” Catawba coach Jim Baker said.
Moose played mostly in the post at Carson where he was the leading scorer in Carson history (1,768 points in 100 varsity games) and one of the top scorers in county history. He was Rowan County Player of the Year in 2010 when he averaged 20 points per game.
Catawba had some interest in recruiting Moose who played for former Catawba player Brian Perry in high school, but Catawba didn’t immediately have a scholarship available. Catawba did have a scholarship open up later, but by that point Moose had committed to SAC rival Brevard.
Moose averaged 5.1 points per game off the bench as a freshman and made the All-SAC Freshmen team. He started as as sophomore and scored 12.6 points per game.
When Moose temporarily got behind academically at Brevard prior to the 2012-13 season, there was talk of him transferring to Catawba, but he would’ve had to sit out a year and wouldn’t have been on scholarship for that year, and that would’ve been a huge financial burden.
So Moose hit the books hard in what became a redshirt season for him at Brevard and got back on track academically. He’s returned to the court this season for the Tornados better than ever.
He’s averaging 20 points per game, which ranks him fourth in the league. He’s a 50-percent field-goal shooter, he’s an exceptional rebounder on the defensive glass, and he’s expanded his game to include 40 3-pointers. He’s a very respectable 39-percent shooter from long range.
Even on one of the SAC’s bottom teams, Moose has all-conference stats. He’s also been an ironman. He leads the league in minutes played.
Moose made a great fake Saturday that convinced Marijosius he was setting up for a jumpshot, and when the rangy Lithuanian ran at him, Moose blew by him for an easy two.
Still, the highlight for Moose came during a 20-second backyard duel with Catawba guard Nick Houston. Houston also played at Carson. Moose and Houston were a great inside-outside combination for the Cougars in 2008-09 and 2009-10, and in 2009-10 when Moose was a senior and Houston a junior, the Cougars won 21 games and had the best season in program history.
Houston is mostly a shooter and only played briefly against Brevard, but he entered the game and nailed a 3-pointer over Moose a few moments later.
“Nick shot a 3 right in my face,” Moose said. “I had to get it back.”
He did. Moose took Houston right to the rim for a three-point play on Brevard’s next possession.
“Well, I knew when Moose got the ball with me on him, it was not going to be good for me,” Houston said with a laugh. “But, hey, at least we broke our losing streak.”
Twenty-four of Houston’s 33 field goals this season have been 3-pointers.
• Isaiah Cuthbertson (West Rowan) had eight points and eight rebounds in Saturday’s 121-75 loss to Newberry.
• Tevin Stark (A.L. Brown) had 15 points and 12 rebounds as Sandhills beat Davidson County Community College 98-89 in a tournament semifinal game.
• Alex Weant (Salisbury) had five rebounds as Roanoke rolled Hampden-Sydney 104-80 on Senior Day.

Women’s basketball
Doreen Richardson (Salisbury) had 12 points and six rebounds as Gardner-Webb lost 65-62 to Campbell in Buies Creek on Saturday. Jessica Heilig (Salisbury) had four points and six rebounds for the Bulldogs (14-13).
• Alison Sobataka (West) scored 11 points as Columbia beat St. Andrews 116-107 in triple overtime.
Sobataka scored eight in a win against Point (Ga.).
Ayana Avery (West) hit four 3-pointers and scored 20 points Saturday in Radford’s 76-70 loss to Longwood. Avery also had a career-high four steals for the Highlanders (7-20).
• Shay Steele (West) had three points and seven rebounds Saturday at Morehead State (11-15) pulled out a 45-43 win against Jacksonville State.
• Temple’s Shi-Heria Shipp (Salisbury) had six points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s 72-69 loss by the Owls (12-14) to South Florida.

Baseball
Army’s Jon Crucitti (West) had a good series as the Black Knights swept UMass in Cary, N.C.
Crucitti had three RBIs in the series opener. Crucitti is batting .364.
Guilford catcher Nathan Fulbright (East) stayed hot in a busy week for the Quakers. Fulbright is batting .341 with eight RBIs. He’s struck out only twice in 11 games.
East Carolina’s freshman catcher Eric Tyler (South Rowan) got his first college start on Sunday in a 6-2 loss to Virginia. Tyler threw out a Cavalier who tried to steal third.
• UNC Pembroke’s Brett Huffman (West) hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning to give the Braves (9-2) an 11-10 victory over 18th-ranked Montevallo on Saturday. The homer was Huffman’s second of the season.
• Caleb Henley (East) pitched in relief in UNC Greensboro’s 12-3 loss to Georgia Tech on Sunday and had two strikeouts.
• Brevard’s Kevin Hamilton (NW Cabarrus) pitched seven strong innings Friday but the Tornados lost 5-1 to Wingate.
• Liberty’s Carson Herndon (Davie) struck out five in his first three innings of work.
• Corey Randall (Davie) has allowed one run in five innings for UNC Asheville.

College track
Lees-McRae pole vaulter Evan Webb (East) was named Conference Carolinas Field Athlete of the Week.
• USC Upstate’s Ross Oden (East) concluded his collegiate indoor track career with a personal-best 200 meter-track 5k time of 15:09 to place 10th at the Atlantic Sun conference meet held in Winston-Salem. The chemistry major made the Chancellor’s List for the fall semester with a 4.0 GPA.
• North Carolina Central’s Christa Landy (West) ran 26.50 in the 200 and finished 10th in the Dennis Craddock Invitational at UNC.
• Appalachian State’s Richard Bell (Davie) was fifth in the weight throw in a meet in Boone on Saturday.

Softball
Elon’s Chelsea White won her fourth game of the season on Sunday as the Phoenix beat Iona 10-1. White (4-3) allowed two hits and one walk in the five-innings game.
• Sydney Poole (East) got her first college save on Saturday. She shut out Brevard the last two innings in a 5-4 win by Pfeiffer.
• Campbell’s Ericka Nesbitt (East) is batting .341 with six steals and eight RBIs.
• Guilford third baseman Steffi Sides (East) is batting .308 and got her third RBI of the season on Sunday.
• N.C. A&T second baseman Zebresha Blakeney (A.L. Brown) is 3-for-3 on steal attempts.