Staff report

LEXINGTON — JP Polk had an incredible outing — 18 points and 22 rebounds — as North Rowan overcame a slow start and beat Lexington 89-71 on Monday night.

Polk is a solid player whose normal night is something like 8 and 6, so he provided a huge boost in a big game.

“They’ve got a 6-foot-5 guy (Andre Gyabaah) who had transferred to High Point Christian but has returned to Lexington,” North head coach Jason Causby said. “He makes them a whole lot better than they were right after Christmas. They’re tough. They really jumped on us at the start.”

Gyabaah scored seven early and the Yellow Jackets (10-8, 6-2) led 22-12 after a quarter in a battle for second place in the Central Carolina Conference.

Causby gave credit to senior Jeremiah Alford for getting things stabilized.

“He’s been big the last four games since we put him in the starting lineup,” Causby said. “He does a lot of little things that don’t show up in the scorebook.”

North turned the game around in the second quarter, holding the Yellow Jackets to seven points, while Emari Russell and Dyzarious Carpenter started to heat up. Russell and Carpenter scored all of North’s 21 points in the second quarter, and the Cavaliers (12-8, 8-1) took a 33-29 lead to halftime.

North scored 31 points in the third quarter to take control. Carter Williams and Polk had eight points each in the quarter.

“We had a solid defensive effort and rebounded extremely well,” Causby said. “That allowed us to get out in transition.”

Russell scored 27 points, while handing out five assists. He was 11 for 13 from the foul line. Carpenter scored 25 points while accounting for eight rebounds and three blocks. Williams scored 12. Jo Jo Tarver had four assists.

Jaylen Henderson led the Yellow Jackets with 18 points. Kamari McDonald and Gyabaah had 13 each.

North Rowan     12     21    31    25    — 89

Lexington           22      7     20  22   — 71

North — Russell 27, D. Carpenter 25, Polk 18, Williams 12, J. Alford 3, Tarver 2, Mosley 2.

Lexington — Henderson 18, McDonald 13, Gyaabah 13, Ewart 10, Holmes 9, Blyden 6, King 2.