Staff report

LANDIS — South Rowan got the pace it wanted against Lexington, but the shots wouldn’t fall down the stretch.

Lexington pulled away with free throws in the final minute for a hard-fought 53-42 Central Carolina Conference victory over the Raiders.

South got a steal and a three-point play from Kane Kepley with about 1:30 left and got within four points and had the ball.

“We were doing a solid job on defense and our press was working,” South head coach Daniel Blevins said. “We just didn’t take the shots we needed to take at the end.”

Marcus Holloman led the Raiders with 12 points.

“He was banging in there pretty good, but then he got into foul trouble and couldn’t be as aggressive,” Blevins said.

Barrett Thompson scored nine, while Jayden Dextraze had eight.

Doing most of the damage for Lexington (4-6, 3-4) was Javien Reid, a guard who scored 27 points.

“We did a good job of keeping them off the glass, but Reid hurt us from the 3-point line,” Blevins said. “We don’t have that kind of deep threat.”

South wraps up the regular season next week against Central Davidson and Salisbury.

“We’re not as tall as most of the teams in our league and not as fast as some of them,” Blevins said. “But when we can keep it in the 50s and play our defensive scheme, we’ve got a chance.”

 

South scoring — Holloman 12, Thompson 9, Dextraze 8, Kepley 5, Chrismon 4, Woodman 2, Black 2.

Lexington scoring — Reid 27, Bobo 8, Williams 6, Liles 5, Hewitt 3, Green 2, Yim 2.