Staff report

MOUNT ULLA — Concord’s boys basketball team finished a season sweep of West Rowan by holding on for a 66-60 road win on Tuesday.

West lost 68-66 at Concord on Jan. 27.

Coaches will tell you that you can’t win a game in the first five minutes, but you can lose it.

West (9-8, 7-5) dug a 13-0 hole with a sluggish start.

That turned out to be the difference against the quick, hustling Spiders, the second-place team in the South Piedmont Conference.

Concord (18-4, 9-3) had a 24-12 lead after the first quarter. West began nibbling at that deficit in the second quarter and trailed 38-28 at halftime.

West kept coming, outscoring the Spiders in the third and again in the fourth. Evan Kennedy made three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and the Falcons got as close as three points, but Concord held on.

Will Givens made five 3-pointers for his team-high 15 points.

Bryson Cowan (12), Kennedy (11) and Levon Jacobs (10) also hit double figures for the Falcons.

Kayin Thompson led the Spiders with 16 points. Johnakin Franklin had 13. Jerrell Reddick scored 10.

Ninth in the 3A West RPI rankings, Concord hosts East Rowan tonight.

West, 19th in the 3A West RPI rankings, is home against Carson tonight and welcomes East Rowan on Friday.

The county games are where the Falcons have been good. They’re 6-0 against Rowan opponents. West was the last team to beat Salisbury.

If that trend of handling Rowan opponents continues, West figures to be the No. 3 seed for the SPC tournament.  Northwest Cabarrus also has five losses, but finishes with Central Cabarrus, so that’s likely to be loss No. 6. Lake Norman Charter has five losses, but was swept by West and finishes with Concord and Central Cabarrus.

Concord         24   14  11   17   — 66

West              12   16   12   20  — 60

CONCORD — Thompson 16, Franklin 13, Reddick 10, Smith 9, Howard 8, Blue 7, Garland 2, Aldridge 1.

WEST — Givens 15, Cowan 12, Kennedy 11, Jacobs 10, Williams-Simpson 7, Norman 3, Loeblein 2.