From staff reports

SPENCER — North Rowan’s top-seeded boys basketball team handled Gray Stone in the first round of the Yadkin Valley Conference Tournament on Tuesday.

Brevin Goodlett scored  20 and Dayjuwon Cooke had 19 for the Cavaliers in a 70-33 victory against the eighth-seeded Knights.

Cooke continued his march toward 1,000 points and has 971.

North (22-2) had beaten Gray Stone 66-29 and 67-37 earlier.

“Tonight was the best Gray Stone played against us,” North coach Jason Causby said. “They did some things that slowed us down , and that was good for us. We have to understand we’ll get everyone’s best shot from here on out.”

North started sluggishly but got hot and pushed to a 41-16 halftime lead with a burst in the second quarter.

Gray Stone (5-19) cut into North’s lead in the  third quarter, but then the Cavaliers had a dominating effort in the fourth quarter, holding the Knights to two points, while scoring 19.

David Broaddus added 11 points for the Cavaliers, who won their 15th straight game. Quintous Smith Jr. had 10.

“We’ve got our eyes on bigger prizes, obviously,” Causby said. “This was one of those games where we needed to take care of business, and for the most part, we had a very sound, business-like approach.”

North Rowan advanced to 8:30 p.m. semifinal action tonight in the YVC tourney at South Davidson.

North Rowan plays fourth-seeded North Stanly for the fourth time tonight. The Comets beat North Rowan in the Christmas tournament. That was the last time North Rowan lost.

North Rowan projects as one of the top seeds for the 1A state playoffs and should get several home games in the postseason.

“That was one of our goals,” Causby said. “We feel like our home court is a tough place for opponents to play and we’ve played  very well at home.”

GRAY STONE (33) — Bailey 10, White 9, Overcash 6, Bernard 5, Tuzenew 3.

N. ROWAN (70) — Goodlett 20, Cooke 19, Broaddus 11, Smith 10, Page 3, Bacon 3, Davis 2, Carpenter 2, Wilson, Robinson, White, Stoner.

Gray Stone   9      7   15   2    —  33

N. Rowan     18   23   10  19   — 70

West boys lose

STATESVILLE — West Rowan’s boys ended the hoops season with a lopsided loss to Statesville in a North Piedmont Conference tournament semifinal played on Tuesday.

Payne Stolsworth scored 10 points for the fifth-seeded Falcons (4-21) in a 68-26 setback. Layton Butler scored six.

Jeremiah Mott led the Greyhounds (15-9) with 13.

Statesville had its hands full with the Falcons on Friday in a three-point win in the West gym, but this time the Greyhounds  jumped on West for leads of 10-0 and 18-2 early and pushed to a 48-13 lead at halftime.

The top-seeded Greyhounds move into Friday’s championship game against the winner of tonight’s South Iredell-Carson game at Statesville.

WEST (26) — Stolsworth 10, Butler 6, Brawley 4, Tadlock 2, Ford 2, Wood 2, B. Moss, Allison, Moseley, Hassard, Biggers, J. Moss.

STATESVILLE (68) — Mott 13, Gathings 10, Fields 8, Davis 7, Moore 6, Brown 6, Knox 6, White 3, Smith 2, Miller 2, Robinson 2, Holland 2, Williams 1.

W. Rowan   10   3    5    8  —  26

Statesville   27  21  12  8  — 68

CPC boys

Davie County’s top-seeded boys pulled out a 69-67 win against fifth-seeded  West Forsyth in a Central Piedmont Conference semifinal played on Tuesday in Mocksville.

Troy Griggs scored 21 for the War Eagles (23-1). Jacob Hendrix scored 13, Brooks Johnson 11, and Michael Walton 10.

Davie County will host the championship game on Friday night against the winner of tonight’s R.J. Reynolds-East Forsyth contest.

Local golf

GARS members played at the Revival at the Crescent.

Low ‘A’ Flight player was Phil Cauble with a net of 65.99.

Low ‘B’ Flight player was Nelson Earnhardt with a net of 66.71.

Low ‘C’ Flight player was Mike Sides with a net of 62.47.

Low ‘D’ Flight player was Gene Cauble with a net of 58.29.

Low gross was a 75 shot by Phil Cauble and Larry Petrea. Gene Cauble won low net.

Catawba athletics

SALISBURY — Catawba’s fifth-ranked baseball team routed UNC Pembroke (6-4) at Newman Park on Tuesday, 13-1.

Catawba (12-1) has won 11 in a row and nine straight at Newman Park.

Cameron Morrison’s two-homer day powered the Indians.

Heath Mitchem hit a three-run homer and Joe Butts drove in three to support strong pitching by Sawyer Strickland. Strickland (3-0) pitched seven scoreless innings.

Stickland got a double-play ball after UNCP opened the third inning with back-to-back hits, and it was downhill for the Braves from there.

Jackson Raper had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Hunter Shepherd also had two hits.

D.J. Laxton pitched the eighth inning for the Indians.  Dawson Painter homered for UNC Pembroke in the ninth against reliever Pearce Wilhelm.

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Catawba’s softball doubleheader with Belmont Abbey was postponed.

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Catawba’s basketball teams head to Queens tonight for key games at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Catawba’s men are in second place, while Queens leads the South Atlantic Conference.

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Catawba’s women’s golf team placed third in the Converse Spring Invite.

Individually for the Catawba Indians, Sarah Coltrane grabbed a runner-up finish at 77-81 — 158.

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  The Catawba women’s tennis team (4-0) notched a 7-0 victory against Shaw on Monday.

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Catawba (3-2) posted a 5-2 victory over Shaw in men’s tennis action on Monday afternoon at Lions Park.

LC athletics

Livingstone’s basketball teams are home tonight at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. against CIAA opponent St. Augustine’s.

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In softball, the Blue Bears lost a pair of games to Pfeiffer on Monday.

  

HS baseball

Carson and Salisbury got in five innings of scrimmage work on Tuesday.

Deacon Wike had two RBIs for the Cougars, while  Luke Barringer doubled. Five Carson hurlers held the Hornets to one hit.

Hurley YMCA

The J.F. Hurley YMCA is registering players for girls volleyball (ages 10-14) until March 2, spring soccer (ages 3-14) until April 3, and flag football (boys and girls, ages 5-13) until April 3.

Cost is $45 for members and $75 for potential members.

Successful programs rely on  volunteers. Sign up today to become a volunteer coach, assistant coach, or official.  Register at the J.F. Hurley YMCA or online at www.rowanymca.org. Contact Jesse Byrd at 704-636-0111 or Jbyrd@rowanymca.org.

For more information contact Jesse Byrd at 704-636-0111 or Jbyrd@rowanymca.org