Staff report

CONCORD — Carson’s boys basketball team spoiled Robinson’s perfect regular season in the South Piedmont Conference when the teams played in China Grove, but the Bulldogs avenged that loss in Tuesday’s tournament semifinal.

Robinson won 88-69. It was a better game than it sounds like, but the Bulldogs won going away with a 25-14 edge in the fourth quarter.

Robinson (23-3) did what it does really well — running at every opportunity and shooting terrific percentages in a high-powered transition game. It’s a team of athletic finishers, and they finished over and over in 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 situations. Noah Speller led the way with 22 points.

Fourth-seeded Carson (17-9) stayed right with the top-seeded Bulldogs for a half. CP Perry closed the first half by beating two defenders for a pull-up jumper that cut Robinson’s lead to 42-41 at the break.

It was 44-all when Jonah Drye made one of his five 3-pointers 40 seconds into the second half, and Carson trailed 48-47 two minutes into the second half after Jacob Mills made one of his three 3-pointers.

Robinson still was only up three late in the third quarter, but scored the last five in the period to take a 63-55 lead.

Drye opened the fourth quarter with another 3 for a five-point deficit, but that’s when the Cougars hit the wall. Robinson got on a roll, pushed the lead to double digits and then ran away. Carson got no calls in the fourth quarter — Robinson was whistled for one foul — but the Bulldogs didn’t leave any doubt that it was their night.

Carson is safely in the 3A state playoffs, but one of the main goals for this season was to play the first round at home. The Cougars fell short of that.

Drye has had a strong run in February and made 11 3-pointers in Carson’s two tournament games. The senior has 975 career points.

Drye scored 17, Mills had 16, and Drew Neve had 15 for the Cougars.

Robinson will play third-seeded Concord for the tournament championship on Friday at Concord at 7:30 p.m. Concord made an amazing comeback in the fourth quarter and beat second-seeded Northwest Cabarrus in overtime in the other semifinal.

Carson      15   26   14   14   —  69

Robinson  21  21   21    25   — 88

CARSON scoring — Drye 17, Mills 16, Neve 15, Perry 9, Walters 6, Covington 3, Martin 3.