By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA — Tdarien Neal’s 3-pointer from the left wing wouldn’t fall in the closing seconds, and West Rowan held on to beat Central Cabarrus, 65-62, in Friday’s frantic South Piedmont Conference action in the West gym.
West got a career-high 24 points from senior Kortez Weeks, who didn’t play basketball last season.
“We’ve got nine seniors and he’s been kind of the glue guy for that group since he was in sixth or seventh grade,” West coach Mike Gurley. “He’s a very good athlete and a very good leader.”
It was a roller-coaster game.
“A streetfight,” is how Gurley described it.
Central (3-4, 1-4 SPC) struggled to get started offensively, and West moved to a 13-7 lead after a quarter.
But in the latter stages of the second quarter and early in the third quarter, Central pressed furiously, heated up on jumpers and began to take control.
“We got a little frustrated with their pressure,” Weeks said. “But we got coached up at halftime on how to beat the press and we executed a lot better in the second half.”
Still, when Central reserve Cameron Kepley buried a jumper with 1:49 left in the third quarter, the swarming Vikings owned a 45-34 lead, and West (2-2, 2-0 SPC) appeared to be in serious trouble. Gurley took a timeout.
“I just reminded them there were going to be about 100 more possessions in a game like this,” Gurley said. “We just needed to get one stop at a time. I told them to get stops and we’d get their lead down to four by the end of the quarter.”
As it turned out, West closed the quarter with so many stops that it put together a furious, 13-0 run that would prove decisive. Reserve guard Jayson Delgado fueled the surge with his defense. Weeks, who had 11 third-quarter points, was huge in the run, and the Falcons started getting 6-foot-8 Caleb Mauldin involved on sharp passes by Paris Hillie. When the third quarter ended, the Falcons led, 47-45.
“It was a story that’s played out the same in a whole lot of games for us,” said Central coach Kenyan Weaks, the former Concord High and Florida Gators star. “We get a lead, we get up, and we think we’ve got the game won. But teams in this league are not going to stop fighting. West fought. We had some adversity, and then we just wilted.”
West continued to outplay the Vikings, who were battling without injured standout Isaiah Salter, most of the fourth quarter. West owned an 11-point lead when Hillie scooped in a driving bucket with 3:36 remaining.
With two minutes left, the Falcons were in control by nine points. Central was forced to chase and foul, but that’s when West’s foul line issues surfaced and left the door open for one last-ditch Central comeback.
A Jake Rowdon 3-pointer sliced West’s lead down to four, and a Jaylynn Bennett free throw made it a one-possession game heading to the final 20 seconds.
When Hillie missed two free throws with 14 seconds remaining, the Vikings had their chance to get even, but Neal’s 3-pointer wouldn’t go down. Central actually rebounded the miss, but time expired before the ball could be kicked out for another 3-point attempt.
“We had the play drawn up, everyone said they knew it, and then they went out there and ran the opposite of the play we were supposed to run,” Weaks said. “But we did do some things right. Mauldin is 6-foot-8 and 240 and he killed us twice last year. We did a lot better job on him tonight.”
Rowdon had 13 to lead the Vikings.
Hillie and Mauldin helped out Weeks with 14 points each for the Falcons.

CENTRAL (62)
Rowdon 13, Neal 11, R. Bennett 10, J. Bennett 8, Salter 8, Roller 6, Kepley 2, Hamilton 2, Jones 2.

WEST (65)
Weeks 24, Hillie 14, Mauldin 14, Kure 5, Love 4, Delgado 2, Hogue 2, Lawrence, Caldwell, Quarles, Rankin.

C. Cabarrus 6 21 16 19 — 62
W. Rowan 13 12 22 18 — 65