High school basketball: Boys roundup
Published 4:45 pm Saturday, February 2, 2019
From staff reports
Davie boys
MOCKSVILLE — Davie County’s boys took a giant step toward winning the Central Piedmont Conference on Friday.
Davie beat R.J. Reynolds 61-59. Owen McCormack made a decisive 3-pointer with seven seconds left and RJR narrowly missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
Davie (18-1, 6-0) swept the season series from the second-place Demons (13-5, 4-2) and now has a two-game lead with four left to play.
The War Eagles trailed 39-31 at halftime and got down 12 points in the third quarter, but dominated the fourth.
McCormack scored 19 points. Michael Walton had 15, Jacob Hendrix 13, and Troy Griggs 11.
Tobias Johnson and Mysta Goodloe scored 14 each for the Demons.
•••
NOTES: McCormack surpassed 900 career points. … Davie won at RJR 69-57.
R.J. REYNOLDS (59) — Goodloe 14, Johnson 14, Ingram 12, Leach 12, Davis 7.
DAVIE (61) — McCormack 19, Walton 15, Hendrix 13, Griggs 11, Johnson 3.
Reynolds 23 16 15 5 — 59
Davie 15 16 13 17 − 61
Carson boys
OLIN — The biggest surprise of the second half of the season?
It might be the Carson boys, who won again on Friday. The Cougars got a North Piedmont Conference road victory at North Iredell, 59-47.
Carson’s win combined with Statesville’s loss to South Iredell put Carson (10-9, 5-1) in a tie for first place. Carson handled South Iredell at home, but lost at Statesville.
While the loss to Statesville was ugly, it was just one loss, and Carson has quietly won seven of its last eight games. The Cougars, who had to replace four starters from last season’s record-breaking squad, were 3-8 at one point, but kept grinding.
Carson struggled for a long time Friday, leading 34-33 after three quarters, but the fourth quarter was a different story. That’s when Eric “EJ” Clark took over.
“It was like four consecutive possessions with 3-pointers by EJ,” coach Brian Perry said. “We’d struggled to score all night, but then he got hot.”
Clark, a 6-foot-4 junior who had a career-high 31 in Wednesday’s win against South Iredell, scored 16 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter.
Clark, who missed his freshman season with injury and played on the jayvees last season, has scored over 300 points this season and is averaging 16.1 points per game.
AJ Mauldin scored 17 for the Cougars.
“AJ kept us afloat until the fourth quarter,” Coach Perry said. “Nothing was flowing and we were missing some easy ones. Fortunately, EJ got hot at the right time.”
Carson got Cole Hales back. He missed three games with an ankle injury.
North Iredell (4-15, 1-5) got 12 points from Nick Skinner and 11 from Jake Tuggle.
CARSON (59) — Clark 23, Mauldin 17, Smith 9, Perry 7, Spry 3, Hales, Jackson, Zuniga, Harris.
N. IREDELL (47) — Skinner 12, Tuttle 11, Barzee 9, Pierce 6, Turner 3, Ross 2, Allison 2.
Carson 15 10 9 25 — 59
N. Iredell 13 10 10 14 — 47
North boys
ROBBINS — North Rowan’s eighth-ranked boys won easily at North Moore on Friday.
The Cavaliers led at halftime, 47-11, and breezed to a 68-22 romp to stay unbeaten in the Yadkin Valley Conference.
Brevin Goodlett led the Cavaliers (17-2, 12-0), who stayed in command of the YVC race. Second-place South Stanly has two league losses, both to North Rowan.
Goodlett got 17 of his 19 points in the first half before sitting down early.
Dayjuwon Cooke scored 17, with 15 coming in the first half.
Derrick Page didn’t score, but played a good floor game and keyed North Rowan’s defensive pressure.
Gage Pennington led the Mustangs (2-17, 2-10) with eight points.
North Rowan plays at home on Tuesday against West Montgomery.
N. ROWAN (68) — Goodlett 19, Cooke 17, Davis 7, Goodes 6, Robinson 4, Stoner 4, Broaddus 4, Wilson 3, Page, Bacon, White.
N. MOORE (22) — Pennington 8, Patterson 5, J. Johnson 5, Horne 4, Luther, Allred, E. Johnson, Bullock.
N. Rowan 23 24 9 12 — 68
N. Moore 4 7 5 6 — 22
Salisbury boys
MIDWAY — Oak Grove has yet to win a varsity boys basketball game in two seasons of competition, and it’s not like Salisbury was going to be the first victim.
Salisbury played without leading scorer Zay Kesler but romped on the road, 80-43.
With North Davidson losing to Thomasville on Friday, second-place Salisbury (13-5, 11-2) is now only game behind the Black Knights in the Central Carolina Conference. Salisbury has lost at home to Lexington and on the road at North Davidson.
Jacob Johnston scored 14 points to lead the Grizzlies (0-19, 0-14).
Salisbury led 12-4 after a quarter and by 38-24 at halftime. Salisbury’s 29-point third quarter — while holding Oak Grove to six — blew it open.
“It’s a difficult matchup for us,” Oak Grove head coach Todd Rausch told the Lexington Dispatch. “They are a highly athletic team.”
Salisbury called up Cameron Stout from the jayvees for the game and he scored 12 points, all on 3-pointers.
Salisbury goes to West Davidson on Monday.
Salisbury 12 26 29 13 — 80
Oak Grove 4 20 6 13 — 43
South boys
TYRO — South Rowan’s boys lost at West Davidson, 70-53, on Friday.
The priority for the Raiders right now is getting another win or two and qualifying for the Central Carolina Conference Tournament. The top eight in the 10-team league make it. South (3-16, 3-10) is tied for eighth with East Davidson and has split its games with the Eagles.
West Davidson (10-8, 7-6) is a middle-of-the-pack CCC team that generates plenty of offense and took care of the Raiders. Drew Wright scored 20, Macon Stovall had 18, and Zavier Measmer added 15.
Wright shot 8-for-12, while Stovall shot 7-for-12.
Andrew Jones led the Raiders with 13 points.
West Davidson led only 25-24 at halftime, but used a 16-4 spurt to start the second half. That created separation, and West Davidson went on to score 55 points in the second half.
The Green Dragons rank second in the CCC in offense behind league-leading North Davidson.
“In the second half tonight we got back to what we practice and preach,” WD coach Elliott Pope told the Lexington Dispatch. “For some reason, whenever we play South Rowan, they do a pretty good job of taking us out of what we want to do. We were able to get things going in the second half.”
South was playing its third game in three nights, all on the road, and wore down.
“I am sure that was an advantage for us,” Pope said. “That much playing tears at your legs sometimes, even with high school kids.”
A.L. Brown boys
KANNAPOLIS — A.L. Brown’s boys held off Central Cabarrus 76-75 for another South Piedmont Conference win on Friday.
Amare Haynie led the Wonders (16-4, 4-2) with four 3-pointers and 28 points. Kheni Briggs scored 19, and Amari Grier had 14.
A.L. Brown led late, 70-59, but missed some free throws and defensive assignments and allowed the Vikings to rally.
Nasim Fuller scored 21 for the Vikings (6-14, 2-4).
Cox Mill, ranked No. 1 in 3A, is headed for the SPC title, but the Wonders stayed in second place.
CENTRAL (75) — Fuller 21, Alston 17, Bessette 10, Boykins 9, Jones 7, Cornish 7, Heslop 2, McCallum 2.
A.L. BROWN (76) — Haynie 28, Briggs 19, Grier 14, Glenn 6, Isom 5, Chapman 4.
C. Cabarrus 14 17 15 29 — 75
A.L. Brown 21 16 20 19 — 76
Other games
Bryson Childress scored 34 points for North Stanly in a YVC win at Uwharrie Charter.
