Staff report

SALISBURY — It got way too exciting for Cougar supporters in the fourth quarter, but Carson’s boys basketball team managed to hold off Central Davidson 65-58 late Friday night.

The victory put the top-seeded Cougars in the championship game of the Sam Moir Christmas Classic against second-seeded defending champion Salisbury. Both teams are 8-3. That game will tip at Catawba College’s Goodman Gym on Saturday night at about 8 p.m.

Carson has only won one Moir tournament. That was in 2017. Carson reached the final as recently as 2022, but lost to West Rowan. That was a season in which Salisbury did not participate in the Moir event.

Carson has four players, three of them sophomores, who have produced substantial scoring averages, but they were the only four that scored against fourth-seeded Central Davidson (6-5).

CP Perry turned in a terrific game, making five 3-pointers, going 7 for 9 from the foul line and scoring 26 points.

Perry’s 11-point first quarter allowed the Cougars to take the lead. They were up 20-14 after a quarter. Neither team had much success putting the ball in the hole in the second quarter. Carson took a 28-21 lead to the half.

Carson appeared to have the game under control after a dominant third quarter provided a 17-point cushion at 52-35, but Central Davidson wasn’t done and put together a run to start the fourth quarter.

After Carson’s 6-foot-5 forward Drew Neve fouled out with about three minutes left, Carson’s lead dwindled to as few as five points, but the Cougars held on.

Jacob Mills made three 3-pointers and scored 18 for the Cougars. Jonah Drye, a senior who has the experience of playing in the 2022 championship game, made three 3-pointers and was 6-for-6 at the foul line for 15 points. Neve scored only six, but led Carson’s rebounding.

Carson Hulsizer scored 15 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter to spark Central’s rally. Marcus Bush scored 11, while Colin Henderson had 10.

Central will play North Rowan for third place at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Central Davidson     14    7   14   23    — 58

Carson                        20    8   24   13   — 65

Central Davidson — Hulsizer 21, Bush 11, Henderson 10, Tysinger 7, Harper 4, Hughes 3, Flowe 2.

Carson — Perry 26, Mills 18, Drye 15, Neve 6