Staff report

MOORESBORO — North Rowan’s Dyzarious Carpenter scored 16 points faster than you can say Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy.

Carpenter finished with a rare 40-point night, as the Cavaliers sprinted past TJCA’s towering Gryphons 109-90 in Friday’s second-round 1A West state playoff game. It wasn’t a school record for North, but it was one of the highest-scoring games in program history, and the eye-popping numbers came against a quality opponent.

“Thomas Jefferson was huge,” North head coach Jason Causby said. “But when we watched film of them, I thought our speed would give them trouble. We knew we couldn’t get into a half-court game with them. We started the game in a man press, but we weren’t getting the initial trap, so we switched to a 2-2-1. That was the answer. Our guys did a great job of rotating in the 2-2-1, just as they’d been coached to do. It’s not like we created a tremendous number of turnovers, but we speeded the game up. Thomas Jefferson was taking quick shots in transition, shots they don’t normally want to take.”

A lot of those TJCA misses turned into defensive rebounds, transition dunks and layups for the ninth-seeded Cavaliers (18-10).

“They only play seven guys, so the pace was taking a toll on them by the second quarter,” Causby said.

North clicked on all cylinders in the first half and led 59-39 at halftime.

“Thomas Jefferson made a run coming out of the half,” Causby said. “Our defensive effort wasn’t as good in the second half — we lost some focus and they scored a bunch of points — but we also continued to score. They just couldn’t get back on defense against us.”

Carpenter, a high-flying 6-foot-4 wing player, made four 3-pointers and enjoyed his career game to lead the way.

“He’s feeling it right now and he’s locked in,” Causby said. “We hope he can keep the momentum going.”

Emari Russell also turned in an incredible night. He had 26 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds.

Carter Williams scored 20. JP Polk had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Jo Jo Tarver had nine assists.

North shot 21-for-29 from the foul line.

Carpenter and Russell score 20 points per game, while Williams and Polk average double figures, so it’s difficult for opposing teams to focus on any one Cavalier.

Eighth-seeded TJCA (20-8) made 10 3-pointers.

Bryson Luther scored 22 points. Micah King had 21, while Dylan Twitty scored 18.

Next for North on Tuesday is a trip to Kernersville to take on No. 1 seed Bishop McGuinness (26-2). The Villains shut down Uwharrie Charter and took a 67-41 win on Friday.

“We’re playing our best ball of the season right now,” Causby said.

•••

North scored over 100 points three times in the 2012-13 season against Yadkin Valley Conference opponents, but had not topped 100 points since then. North scored a program-record 116 against South Davidson that season.

Carpenter was only the fifth in program history to score 40 in a game. Brian Paige holds the school record with a 50-point night against North Stanly in 1989.

 

North  Rowan    31   28    25    25    — 109

TJCA                   17    22    25    26     — 90

North — D. Carpenter 40, Russell 26, Williams 20, Polk 10, J. Alford 4, Feamster 4, Tarver 3, Mosley 2.

TJCA — Luther 22, M. King 21, Twitty 18, E. King 13, Malachi 6, Griffin 5, Watkins 3, Fuller 2.