By David Shaw

sports@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Kurt Misenheimer called it a “coach’s decision” when asked why 6-foot-7 Elton Hooper and 6-5 Brandon Jefferson were chained to East Rowan’s bench for Thursday’s Christmas Tournament opener at Goodman Gym.

His elaboration did little to explain the absence of two dominant forwards the Mustangs could have used in their 80-47 loss to fifth-seeded North Stanly. “For disciplinary purposes,” Misenheimer said. “It was a coach’s decision not to have them play. I’ll leave it there.”

Without their ammunition, fourth-seeded East (5-5) spent the night firing a lot of blanks and was relegated to the consolation rounds. Hooper and Jefferson will be back in uniform when East meets West Rowan at 1:30 p.m. today. North Stanly (4-3), meanwhile, knocked down 10 3-pointers and easily advanced to tonight’s semifinal against top-seeded Davie County.

“I feel bad for (Misenheimer),” winning coach Paul Childress said. “They were in a position where they had to play short-handed. We’ve all been there. Our team played six games before tonight — and three of our starters have missed two games each. We’re hoping to use the tournament to get back some of our chemistry and structure.”

The Comets are well on their way. They received a game-high 26 points from senior guard Bryson Childress — the coach’s son — and another 25 from sharpshooter Carson Lowder.

“I still thought we could have competed, but they were hitting shots,” Misenheimer said. “We knew Childress was a heck of a player. He scored off the dribble and hit contested shots. I didn’t know No. 23 (Lowder) could shoot the ball as well. And at the same time, we were battling their bigs inside. So we had a tough time stopping the bigs and stopping the outside shot. They must have shot 50 percent tonight.”

For East, that was a recipe for disaster.

“Since we were running with a small group, we tried to rebound collectively,” said 6-3 East senior Gabe Hinceman. “But they killed us on the offensive boards. Second-chance points off second-chance rebounds did us in.”

Hinceman paced the Mustangs with 13 points and sophomore teammate David Jordan contributed 12 off the bench. But East made only seven baskets in the second half and never put a dent in a 37-25 halftime deficit. Lowder and Childress beamed in last-minute 3-balls — Childress actually banked his home from the right side — giving North a 28-point lead after three periods.

“That was just luck,” Childress said with a post-game grin. “I’m not even going to try to call that one.”

On this night it hardly mattered, though Coach Childress might disagree.

“East has a tough group,” he said. “They’re tough kids. But none of our guys are satisfied with this. Our struggle is we know how good Davie is — and they beat us in the first round here last year. I just hope we can keep shooting like we did tonight.”

Misenheimer, while disappointed with the outcome, came away impressed with North’s marksmanship.

“We had no answer for them,” he said. “If they shoot like that, they’ll give Davie a run for their money and just might win the tournament.”

NORTH STANLY (80) — Childress 26, Lowder 25, Clark 10, Poole 7, Veasley 6, Hogan 2, Hunt 2, Watkins 2, Bell, Smith.

EAST ROWAN (47) — G.Hinceman 13, Jordan 12, Sprinkle 8, Shuping 6, Bennett 4, Padgett 2, Walker 2, I.Hinceman, Wilson, Plemmons.

North Stanly     22    15    28    15 — 80

East Rowan       12    13    12    10 — 47