Staff report

NEW LONDON — South Rowan’s boys basketball team finally had a little fun.

After being overmatched in their last three South Piedmont Conference adventures and losing by huge numbers, the Raiders had a chance to compete against a similarly sized North Stanly squad in a non-conference matchup on Friday.

North Stanly is a smart, good-shooting team, but it was a ballgame. The Comets took a 71-54 victory.

South was down 58-50 with a little under four minutes left and still had a realistic chance. But that’s when reserve guard Cam Brown drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner for the Comets. It was his only bucket, but it may have been the game’s biggest.

After a driving hoop by North Stanly’s sharp point guard Jalen Walker and a dagger 3-pointer by Jack Williamson from way out, the Comets had an 8-0 run, a 66-50 lead, and it was over for the Raiders (0-7), who had taken their best shot at their first win.

North Stanly (8-1) got 18 points each from Williamson, who also had 10 boards, and Gavin Helms.

Walker only scored eight, but he was looking to set up his teammates. He had 11 rebounds and six assists, and some of the bounce passes he fired were about as slick as you’re going to see in high school.

North Stanly has a tough power forward in Jay Jackson, who accounted for 10 points and 13 physical rebounds. Jacob Smith made a 3-pointer, battled inside  and scored nine.

There was some pretty good outside shooting. North Stanly made nine 3-pointers, while the Raiders made eight.

Dalton Young scored 23 for South. He was shifty enough to get to the rim and to the foul line and he drained four 3-pointers.

Zion  Jackson, a quick guard, made a 3-pointer and got into the lane often enough to score 11 for the Raiders. Carter Rohletter, Aaron Jones and Corbin Goodman made a 3-pointer apiece. Goodman’s 3 was the one that made it 58-50 with four minutes to go.

North Stanly was able to play from in front thanks to torrid early shooting by Helms. His trio of first-quarter 3-balls shot the Comets into a 20-10 lead.

With the Comets leading 32-16 midway though the second quarter, it looked like the Raiders might be knocked out, but Young made some plays and South was able to fight back and hang in the game for a long time.

South looked to be short-handed, as Carston Carey and Drew Blackwell did not appear in the game.

South Rowan     10    15   12   17  — 54

North Stanly     20      16   16   19   — 71

SOUTH — Young 23, Jackson 11, Moore 4, Ritchie 3, Rohletter 3, Goodman 3, Jones 3, Littlejohn 2, Overcash 2.

N. STANLY — Helms 18, Williamson 18, Jackson 10, Smith 9, Walker 8, Lowder 4, Brown 3, Murphy 1.