By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA—  Brian Perry, head coach of the Carson boys basketball team, knew going into this season there would be some tough nights in the South Piedmont Conference.

Half of his top six are freshmen. They’re unusually skilled and advanced freshmen, but they’re still freshmen. Growing pains were certain.

It’s mid-December. Growing pains are officially here.

Carson (2-4, 0-4) took its fourth straight loss in the South Piedmont Conference on Friday. Jacob Mills, one of those talented freshmen, had a good look at a 3-pointer with four seconds left that could have won this one. It didn’t fall. West Rowan got the rebound.

After the Falcons missed free throws and the Cougars threw up a desperation heave, West had held off Carson 63-61,

“Our conference is great, and road games are tough and intense,” Perry said. “Every possession is important. We’ve got to understand that and sometimes the only way to learn that and to understand that is through adversity. We’re going to get where we want to be. We know we’ve got to go through some things to get there.”

Carson did a pretty good job against West’s high-scoring senior Will Givens Jr. The Cougars held him to two 3-pointers, but Givens is a scorer. He still put 21 in the book.

Elijah Holmes, who has been big for the Falcons in recent games, got 17. Brant Graham made a couple of 3s and scored eight. Young big man Josiah Young is coming along for West and contributed six.

West coach Dadrian Cuthbertson has a strong, physical, defensive-minded crew that now is 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the SPC, with two very tough league wins.

Carson got 18 points from CP Perry, the coach’s son. He led a fourth-quarter comeback. He’s one of the freshmen and is averaging almost 17 points per game.

“CP didn’t shoot well, but he did have 10 rebounds,” Coach Perry said. “This wasn’t his best game, but he’s been pretty solid.”

Carson got 17 points from Jonah Drye and 12 from Colin Ball. They are juniors who can score in flurries.

Coach Perry believes a breakout is coming for 6-foot-4 freshman Drew Neve. He could make the difference in the close games.

Neve only scored two points against the Falcons, but he had nine rebounds.

“We’re just not shooting the ball great right now,” Coach Perry said. “But even in the losses I’m seeing things that make me think we’re close to turning the corner.”

West Rowan plays a key SPC game at Concord (4-4, 3-0) on Tuesday. Concord won 63-61 against Carson.

Carson will try to turn the corner on Tuesday at Lake Norman Charter, a tough middle-of-the-pack team in the SPC. Lake Norman Charter (4-4, 2-2) lost close games to West Rowan and Concord but knocked off Northwest Cabarrus.

“It’s tough on the road and Lake Norman Charter is good, but we need to get it started on Tuesday,” Coach Perry said. “We need a few wins ASAP.”

Carson     6     12     15     28  — 61

West        14   10      19     20   — 63

CARSON — Perry 18, Drye 17, Ball 12, Mills 8, McGruder 4, Neve 2.

WEST — Givens 21, Holmes 17, Graham 8, Young 6, Kennedy 5, Norman 2, Martin 2, Tucker 1, Hairston 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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