From staff  and wire reports

West Rowan’s boys made a big fourth-quarter comeback but lost at Central Cabarrus, 59-57, on Friday.

Down one late, the Falcons had possession but turned the ball over.

West Rowan’s home win against the Vikings came down to a Central miss on the final possession.

Paris Hillie led the Falcons (13-5, 9-3 SPC) with 18 points. Caleb Mauldin scored 17.

Jake Rowden led a balanced effort by the Vikings (9-10, 5-8 SPC) with 12 points.

West trailed 28-16 at the break.

Central 59, West 57

WEST (57)

Hillie 18, Mauldin 17, Weeks 9, Love 4, Kure 3, Lawrence 2, Rankin 2, Hogue 2.

CENTRAL (59)

Rowden 12, Salter 11, Roller 10, Mitchell 9, Neal 7, Hamilton 4, Butler 4, Underwood 2.

W. Rowan   8       8   18   23   — 57

Central       17   11   19  12   —  59

West girls fall

Central Cabarrus completed a season sweep of West Rowan with an 89-57 romp on Friday.

Central led by 20 after a quarter and scored 57 points in the first half.

Mahaley Holit scored 23 points before leaving with a shoulder injury early in the second half. Kasey Rowden scored 21, and Elanna Peay had 15 for the Vikings (16-3, 11-2 SPC).

Central stayed in a tie for second with Carson.

Leading West (11-7, 6-6) with 17 points was freshman Abigail Wilson. Egypt Alexander scored 13.

Central 89, West 57

WEST (57)

Wilson 17, Alexander 13, Connolly 7, Sobataka 5, Poole 4, Hillie 4, Pruitt 3, Robinson 3, Vaughters 1.

CENTRAL (89)

Holit 23, Rowden 21, Peay 15, A. Brown 8, Tate 8, Miller 7, N. Brown 3, Benton 2, Van Dyke 2.

W. Rowan   11    13   15   18   — 57

Central       31    26   15  17   —  89

East girls lose

East Rowan’s girls dropped a close one at Northwest Cabarrus on Friday, losing 52-45.

East started strong and led by 10 points after the first quarter. Northwest’s 23-point second quarter provded decisive.

Northwest (3-14, 2-11 SPC) got 24 points from Tricia Robinson and avenged a loss to East in Granite Quarry.

Adalie Harrison scored 13 for the Mustangs (4-16, 1-13 SPC).  Courtney Wagner and Lauren Coughenour scored seven each.

It was a vital win for the Trojans, as only the top eight finishers in the 10-team league will qualify for the conference tournament.

NWC 52, E. Rowan 45

EAST (45)

A. Harrison 13, Coughenour 7, Wagner 7, Houpe 5, Shafer 5, Winford 5,  McCall 2, H. Harrison 1, Trexler, Honeycutt.

NWC (52)

Robinson 24, Maddox 9, Caldwell 6, Allen 4, Caldwell 3, Sterling 2, Floria 2, Gordon 2.

E. Rowan   15   7   13   10   — 45

NWC           5    23   8     16  —  52

East boys win on road

East Rowan’s boys (4-16, 2-12 SPC) ended a four-game slide by nipping Northwest Cabarrus, 57-53, on Friday.

Lucas Morton led the Mustangs with 14 points, Ellis Taylor and Brandon Jefferson scored 11 apiece.

East got off to a  good start on the road and led  26-17 at halftime.

“We did  a good job of attacking the rim and getting to the free-throw line,” East coach Kurt Misenheimer said.

Northwest (6-11, 3-10 SPC) made a run in the third quarter, wiped out the Mustangs’ lead and went in front, 39-38.

But East finished strong and got the road win.

“All eight guys played hard, and everyone did something positive, whether it was hitting a shot, getting a rebound or playing defense,” Misenheimer said. “It was our best all-round team effort of the season.”

Chalen Stafford-Gill led the Trojans with 19 points. Elijah Isom scored 12.

 E. Rowan 57, NW Cabarrus 53

EAST (57)

Morton 14, Taylor 11, Jefferson 11, Sprinkle 7, Hinceman 6, File 4, Bennett 4, Scruggs.

NWC (53)

Stafford-Gill 19, Isom 12, Hobson 7, Hester 6, Foreman 4, Perkins 2, Gustave 2, Kirk 1.

E. Rowan   13  13  12   19   —57

NWC           6    11  22    14 —  53

Jayvee boys

Payne Stolsworth hit four 3-pointers for West Rowan in a 45-38 win against South Rowan.

•••

Jarron Hines scored 17 points and Brendan Finger had 12 in South Rowan’s 44-30 win against Carson.

Jayvee girls

  Carson won against South Rowan, 36-20.

Taylor Conrad scored 15 for the Cougars. Zoie Lee had 11. Katie Jewell, Nancy Gamewell and Victoria Post were defensive standouts.

Madison Henry and Ashlynn Plott led South.

Sacred Heart hoops

Sacred Heart’s varsity boys  defeated North Hills,  38-34.  Ben Children led the Dolphins with 11 points. Jalon Walker had 10 points, and Luke Graeber had eight,  including the game winning 3-pointer. Will Webb had six points.

•••

Sacred Heart’s varsity girls got 24 points from Rachel McCullough in a 35-29 win against North Hills. Sutton Webb scored eight.  Marina Mueller led the defense.

•••

Sacred  Heart’s jayvee boys won against North Hills, 21-20.

  John David Bonilla scored the winning basket with 18 seconds left. Bonilla totaled eight points.  Deuce Walker scored six.

•••

Sacred Heart’s jayvee girls won against North Hills, 22-12.

Gianna Patella had nine points.  Faye Carol Shellhorn had seven, and Kyna Zaldivar had four.

Maggie Antosek and Bree Whittington played great defense.

Men’s basketball

MISENHEIMER The Pfeiffer men’s basketball team continued to display its nation-leading scoring prowess on Friday night, draining 16 three-pointers in a wild, back-and-forth, 114-111 shootout win over King in Merner Gymnasium on Friday night.

Pfeiffer, No. 1 in  Division II with 106 points per game, improved to 17-3 overall and 10-3 in the Conference Carolinas after tallying its 14th 100-point performance of the  season.

The Falcons hit 36-of-72 (50 percent) from the field and held a significant advantage from behind the arc, where five different players connecting from long range on 44.4 percent shooting.

Senior guard A.J. Clark, who has averaged 24.9 points over his last nine games, remained hot and finished with a team-high 29 points on 9-of-18 shooting to lead the Falcons. Andrew Guerrero ended with 22 points and was on fire from deep, going 6-for-12 from three.

•••

Catawba is at Mars Hill today, while Livingstone is at Winston-Salem State.

College football

MOBILE, Ala.  — The Senior Bowl quarterbacks would gladly become this year’s version of Dak Prescott, except perhaps with a shorter wait in the NFL draft.

Prescott impressed at last year’s Senior Bowl , earning Most Outstanding Player honors. He still languished until the fourth round of the draft before moving into a starring role for the Dallas Cowboys as a rookie.

Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs, another experienced and prolific Southeastern Conference passer, is hoping to perform well during his own turn in Saturday’s showcase game for senior NFL prospects.

“It just shows if you can be successful at the college level, then you can be successful at the NFL level,” Dobbs said. “As long as you put in the work and you have the determination and drive that it takes. He’s a classic example of that.”

Clemson’s Deshaun Watson opted out of playing in the game, leaving the Senior Bowl without a likely first-round quarterback pick.

It also opened the door for less high-profile passers to shine. The South is led by Dobbs, California’s Davis Webb and Antonio Pipkin of Division II Tiffin. The North quarterbacks are Colorado’s Sefo Liufau, Pittsburgh’s Nate Peterman and Iowa’s C.J. Beathard.

They had to take a crash course in learning the basics of a pro-style offense, including getting used to taking snaps under center.

under the watchful eye of the coaching staffs of the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears.

“We have total freedom basically at the line of scrimmage,” Webb said. “We can check plays, make opposite calls to flip the play or check pass plays. They gave us a lot of freedom. That’s something that I’m sure they’re expecting us to learn, because they expect a lot out of the quarterbacks and the offense especially.

“(Cleveland coach Hue) Jackson leads the offensive meetings. He takes it very personally. He wants to be great on offense especially for the Browns but this Saturday, he wants us to put some points on the board.”