From staff reports

Friday’s games …

MOUNT ULLA  — West Rowan’s defense forced 30 turnovers in a 71-42 South Piedmont Conference victory against East Rowan.

Will Givens and Brant Graham had five steals each for the Falcons (4-1, 2-0).

“West plays really sound and disciplined man-to-man defense and they caused a lot of problems for our half-court offense,” East coach Andrew Porter said.

West’s defense was good enough for the Falcons to survive 24 turnovers and a shaky 4-for-24 effort from the 3-point line.

Givens shot 9-for-17 and led the Falcons with 20 points.

Graham had a solid game with eight points and six rebounds in addition to the steals.

Evan Kennedy and Kayvone Norman, physical West backcourt players, combined for 20 points and nine assists.

Josiah Young didn’t score but blocked three shots.

East (0-6, 0-3) got a career-best 12 points from Jaden Reid and 11 from Drake Jones, but the Falcons did a good job against Jones and Jonathan Wembolua, a duo that had been scoring a lot of points. Brady McIntyre was 2-for-2 on 3-pointers.

“We played a good first half, rebounded well and played good defense,” Porter said. “But we came out flat in the third quarter and struggled against their man-t-man and their 2-3 zone trap.”

EAST — Reid 12, Jones 11, Chesney 6, McIntyre 6, Wembolua 4, Butler 2, Gibson 1.

WEST — Givens 20, Kennedy 11, Norman 9, Holmes 8, Graham 8, Little 6, Walker 5, Martin 2, Tucker 2.

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GREENSBORO — Salisbury lost 62-56 to a Cannon School squad with two major recruits.

Cannon School got 18 points each from Miami recruit Austin Swartz and Isaiah Henry, who has offers from ACC and SEC schools. Henry is a son of Keith Henry, who was a standout athlete for Catawba and later an assistant football coach.

While Cannon School (9-3) is talented, it was a very winnable game for the Hornets on the neutral floor at Ben L. Smith High. Both teams struggled offensively for three quarters, but Cannon School made every imaginable shot — spinning, leaning, through heavy contact — with the game on the line in the fourth.

Salisbury star Juke Harris, a Wake Forest recruit, shot 6-for-18 from the floor. Harris scored 10 of his 18 points in the first quarter.

The Hornets struggled mightily out of the gate and got down 8-0, but Harris put them on the scoreboard with a drive about three minutes into the game. Harris made his only two 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Hornets surged ahead 14-10, but Cannon School came back to take a 15-14 lead by the end of the quarter.

Both teams scored 11 points in a cold-shooting second quarter. Harris had a scoreless quarter, but the Hornets hung in the game with the help of two buckets by Braylon Taylor and a 3-pointer by Jon Ross. Cannon School led 26-25 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Hornets seemed on the verge of breaking loose. Twice Salisbury went up by seven points on hard-nosed, driving buckets by Mike Geter, but Cannon School got back-to-back 3-pointers from Lincoln Vinson and Swartz and a rebound bucket by Tyler Martin for an 8-0 run and a 36-35 lead after three quarters.

Taylor, who scored half of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, made aggressive moves and difficult shots to give the Hornets a chance. His 3-pointer with four minutes left tied the game at 49-all, but that was the last time the Hornets were even.

With Cannon School leading 56-54 with 1:20 left, the Hornets had the ball for the game’s pivotal possession.

Harris drove into the lane and looked to have his defender beaten, but Cannon School had good help defense, got a quickly whistled tie-up and had the possession arrow.

Then the 6-foot-5 Swartz powered in a three-point play for a five-point lead, and the Hornets were headed for defeat.

Cannon School    15    11    10    26   — 62

Salisbury               14    10    10   21     — 56

SALISBURY — Taylor 20, Harris 18, Geter 8, Dalton 5, Ross 3, Brown 2.

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CHINA GROVE — Central Cabarrus won its 37th in a row, taking an 86-45 win at Carson.

Central Cabarrus (5-0, 3-0) didn’t have big man Joshua Dalton, but DJ Kent poured in 31 points and Catawba recruit Carson Daniel added 21 to overwhelm the young Cougars.

The Vikings led 26-9 after a quarter and by 53-19 at halftime.

Central forced 18 turnovers and had 26 assists.

Freshman CP Perry scored 18 for Carson (2-3, 0-3). Jonah Drye had nine points, and Jacob Mills scored seven.

It was a tough stretch for Carson, facing Robinson and Central Cabarrus in the same week, but the Cougars should have plenty of wins in their future.

Central will play two stout opponents in the Ish Smith Showcase at Central Cabarrus this weekend. Both games are at 8:30 p.m.

Central     26     27    25    8   — 86

Carson      9      10     19     7   — 45

CENTRAL — Kent 31, Carson Daniel 21,  Russell 13, Chase Daniel 7, Smith 6, Burse-Jones 4, Martin 2, Edmisten 2.

CARSON — Perry 18, Drye 9, Mills 7, Neve 6, Ball 3, McGruder 2

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LANDIS — South Rowan played one of its better games in an 87-48 South Piedmont Conference loss to Robinson.

“We definitely showed improvement,” South coach Daniel Blevins said. “But their pressure wore us down.”

Londen Roseman led the quick Bulldogs (3-2, 2-0) with 20 points.

Zion Jackson scored three early buckets and Andrew Jones made a 3-pointer as the Raiders stayed within 13-11 after seven minutes. But Robinson closed the quarter with a 7-0 run for a nine-point lead.

South (0-5, 0-3) got some energy from reserves Jaden Moore and Tristan Littlejohn, ended the first half with a positive flurry and trailed 38-22 at the break.

Robinson exploded for five 3-pointers and 32 points in the third quarter to blow the game open, but South didn’t roll over, and Robinson wasn’t able to get the 40-point lead to trigger a running clock.

Dalton Young scored 11 to lead South. Jackson had 10. Jones and Corbin Goodman made two 3s apiece.

Robinson    20   18     32    17   — 87

South          11    11      14    12    — 48

SOUTH — Young 11, Jackson 10, Jones 8, Goodman 6, Littlejohn 4, Carey 4, Blackwell 3, Moore 2.