By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — Do the North Rowan boys ever lose to West Davidson?

It’s a reasonable question.

The last group of male Green Dragons that beat North on a basketball court are getting into their late 40s now. They beat North Rowan twice in tight games in the 1992-93 season. One of those games went overtime.

Since then, it’s been all Cavaliers. North’s 54-51 overtime victory in the first round of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament on Monday made coach Jason Causby sweat, but the bottom line was No. 23 in a row for North against West Davidson.

The schools are only about 11 miles apart, but they don’t have a lot in common. They don’t play each other in basketball unless they both happen to be in the Central Carolina Conference. There have been times over the years when West Davidson played 2A ball and North was 1A and there were times when North was 2A and West Davidson was 1A. Right now, West Davidson is 2A and North is 1A, but for the first time the CCC is a split 1A/2A league that makes a lot of sense geographically and includes both schools.

North creamed West Davidson 93-62 in their first meeting this season. It was 87-65 in the rematch.

But on Monday night, West Davidson refused to get sped up, got the tempo it wanted, a game in the 50s, and pushed the Cavaliers to the limit.

West Davidson went 17-for-17 at the foul line,  including 13-for-13 by Colson Priddy, who normally leads the scoring for the Green Dragons, the pride of Tyro. Priddy made three 3-pointers and scored 28 points.

Third-seeded North led 12-7 after a quarter and by 24-16 at halftime.

North (12-13) took a 40-29 lead to the fourth quarter, but that’s when West Davidson got it rolling and made a rally.

Sixth-seeded West Davidson (5-20) actually had the lead late in regulation, but George Maxwell’s 3-pointer with 18 seconds left tied it and got North to overtime.

The only scoring of the OT session was a three-point play by Dyzarious Carpenter.

Maxwell scored 14. North, which made four 3-pointers and went 12-for-16 on free throws,  got 13 points each from Jayden Polk and Carpenter.

The loss was a season-ender for West Davidson, which is 50th in RPI ranking out of 53 2A West schools.

The win may be a season-extender for the Cavaliers, who are 31st in the 1A West RPI list.

North’s next game will be a tournament semifinal. The Cavaliers will play second-seeded Thomasville in the Lexington gym on Thursday.

West Davidson     7    9    13     22   0    — 51

North Rowan      12   12   16    11     3   — 54