SPENCER — Like the movie character Roy Hobbs, Roy Allison is a natural.

Allison, a 6-foot-7 guard/forward/center who graduated from Northwest Cabarrus in 2007, scored 26 points and led Kannapolis to a 68-63 first-round win against West Rowan in the Run It Down Alumni Basketball Tournament.

Allison’s once-promising career didn’t get past Rockingham Community College, but he probably still is remembered by Rowan hoops fans. One season, he teamed with football beast Whopper Williams and baseball hero Kyle Seager to beat West Rowan three times on the hardwood.

Allison’s teammates on Saturday in the North Rowan gym were former A.L. Brown Wonders, led by Avery Patterson.

Patterson, who played a lot for St. John’s before transferring and starring at Division II Tarleton State in Texas, scored 18 points, but his biggest contribution was keeping West’s Terris Sifford, a powerfully built veteran of pro leagues in Europe, off the glass.

“I’ve bulked up a lot the past few years and I’ve stayed in shape,” Patterson said with a smile. “I was able to handle him.”

The game was delayed at the start, as West players waited for their familiar light blue jerseys to arrive. With the game about two minutes old, those jerseys finally showed up, and it was seriously competitive after that.

Patterson, now a health services manager in Charlotte, carried Kannapolis early from long range, but Allison began to assert himself in the lane late in the first half. Allison’s three-point play at the horn gave Kannapolis a 41-35 halftime lead.

West, led by Jarvis Morgan in the first half and by KaJuan Phillips in the second half, inched in front several times in the second half, but Allison’s three-point play off a give-and-go with Patterson with five minutes remaining put Kannapolis on the road to victory.

Allison, who made two free throws with 16 seconds left for a four-point lead, and Ian Rogers clinched the win at the foul line.

Rogers, an ankle-breaking guard, added 11 for Kannapolis.

Phillips led West with 16, while Morgan scored 14.

“It was great to play for West Rowan again, Morgan said. “It was a tough game. That big guy for Kannapolis (Allison) was really athletic.”

Kannapolis advanced to a semifinal game against Davie County.