From staff reports

Tuesday’s games …

HUNTERSVILLE — After several tough losses, including last-second decisions against Concord and West Rowan, Carson’s boys basketball team got its first South Piedmont Conference victory.

The Cougars put five in double figures in an 81-68 win at Lake Norman Charter (4-5, 2-3). The Cougars ended a four-game skid since a 30-point win against A.L. Brown on Nov. 28.

Jacob Mills (18), Drew Neve (17), CP Perry (16), Colin Ball (13) and Jonah Drye (12) led Carson.

Neve’s previous high was six points. The 6-foot-4 freshman’s breakout game made the difference.

After a tight first half, Carson (3-4, 1-4) settled it with a dominant third quarter, outscoring the Knights 27-11.

Braylon Irelan scored 18 for the Knights.

Carson                 21     9     27     24    — 81

LN Charter         16    13    11      28    — 68

CARSON — Mills 18, Neve 17, Perry 16, Ball 13, Drye 12, Hall 4, Williams 1.

LN CHARTER — Irelan 18, McConneyhead 12, Smith 10, Kuhn 8, Johnson 6, Morgan 6, Holder 3, Ruthsom 3, Leak 2.

•••

CONCORD — West Rowan dropped an intense game at Concord, falling to the Spiders 66-64 when Jaden Reid made a last-second layup.

Reid led the Spiders in the South Piedmont Conference game with 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting.

The 6-foot-7 Jeremiah Howard had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Spiders (5-4, 4-0), who handed the Falcons (5-2, 3-1) their first league setback.

Concord took the early lead and was up nine points late in the first half. Kayvone Norman assisted on a 3-pointer by Will Givens and a layup by Romir Hairston as the Falcons cut the deficit to 33-29 at halftime.

West trailed by eight after three quarters, but had a strong run early in the fourth. A 3-pointer by Givens put the Falcons ahead 61-56 with 4:20 left and the Falcons still had a five-point lead with a little over two minutes left.

Jadah Freeman hit a critical 3-pointer to rejuvenate the Spiders.

A rare 3-seconds in the lane call against the Falcons negated a Brant Graham bucket before Howard powered in a layup for a 64-all tie with 26 seconds left.

Givens missed on a 3-point attempt, and Concord got possession with about 11 seconds left. After a timeout, the Spiders executed in their half-court offense on the game-winning shot by Reid.

Givens made five 3-pointers and scored 24 to lead West. Graham made three 3-pointers and scored 11.

West              13    16     17    18   — 64

Concord        15     18   21     12    — 66

WEST — Givens 24, Graham 11, Kennedy 8, Hairston 8, Young 7, Holmes 4, Norman 2.

CONCORD — Reid 16, Howard 13, Judah Freeman 12, Jadah Freeman 10, Rushmeyer 5, Coleman 4, Crowder 2, Arellano 2, Starnes 2.

•••

GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan rallied to beat South Rowan 70-58 in a South Piedmont Conference matchup of teams looking for their first win.

The Mustangs were the team that got it, with Jonathan Wembolua providing 19 points and 10 rebounds. Drake Jones scored 17, and Ti’jon Everhart had 13.

South (0-7, 0-4) controlled the game early behind the scoring and ball-handling of Dalton Young, but East’s switch to a box-and-one defense in the second quarter turned the game around.

“It was a tale of two halves,” South coach Daniel Blevins said.

South led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but the Mustangs (1-7, 1-4) cut their deficit to 36-33 at the half.

East held South to 22 points in the second half.

Young scored 15, but 13 of those came in the first half.

Aaron Jones made four 3-pointers and led the Raiders with a career-high 20 points. Jadon Moore made two 3-pointers and scored eight.

“We really shot free throws well (25-for-32) and we played good team defense in the second half,” winning coach Andrew Porter said. “It’s a big win for us. The guys worked hard for this win and deserved it.”

East will be the No. 7 seed for the Christmas tournament, while South will be No. 8.

SOUTH — Jones 20, Young 15, Moore 8, Blackwell 4, Ritchie 4, Rohletter 3, Goodman 3, Littlejohn 1.

EAST — Wembolua 19, Jones 17, Everhart 13, Arnez 8, Reid 5, Chesney 3, Butler 3, Klingler 2.

•••

TYRO — You can’t start any slower than Salisbury’s boys did on Tuesday on West Davidson’s Crim Court, but eventually the Hornets got it rolling.

Salisbury couldn’t make anything for four minutes before Deuce Walker got a stick-back to break the ice for the Hornets and tie the game at 2-all.

Juke Harris got his first points not long after that with a steal and dunk.

A block by Hank Webb led to Harris’ only 3-pointer of the night, and Harris dunked again to make it a 14-0 run by the visitors.

Salisbury led 39-19 by halftime and went on to blow out the Green Dragons 82-45 in Central Carolina Conference play.

Harris scored 23, mostly off the offensive board. Mike Geter scored 14, including eight in a second-quarter flurry. Bryce Dalton got 10 of his 12 to spark the Hornets in the third quarter. Harris, who surpassed 1,900 career points, and other starters sat down with about six minutes left and the game well in hand.

West Davidson 3-point shooter Colson Priddy made some bombs and was honored for reaching the 1,000-point milestone.

Salisbury still has two games left to play in a tournament at Cox Mill before Christmas.

Salisbury          14     25    23    20    — 82

W. Davidson     4       15    18      8    — 45

SALISBURY — Harris 23, Geter 14, Dalton 12, Taylor 8, Webb 6, T. Brown 6, House 3, Davis 3, Walker 3, Davidson 2, Epps 1, Matthews 1.

•••

THOMASVILLE — Dyzarious Carpenter scored 23 points as North Rowan held on for a 63-62 Central Carolina Conference win at Thomasville.

North led 35-30 at the half and seemingly had things well under control after dominating the third quarter.

North took a 15-point lead to the fourth quarter, but it’s rarely routine at Thomasville. The Bulldogs came very close to pulling it out. They had a good look at a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but North didn’t get rattled by the turnover that led to that last-second shot and did a good job of defending without fouling.

North (4-3, 2-0) scored only four points in the fourth quarter. A free throw by Jeremiah Alford that provided a 63-60 lead proved to be the decisive point.

Amir Alexander scored 13 for the Cavaliers, while George Maxwell made two 3-pointers and scored 10.

Bryce McCoy scored 19 to lead the Bulldogs (2-3, 1-2).

North rebounded from a 73-45 pounding at Central Davidson in Monday’s non-conference game. Central Davidson shot the lights out in that one, going 10-f0r-17 on 3-pointers.

NORTH vs. THOMASVILLE — Carpenter 23, Alexander 13, Maxwell 10, Charleston 9, Alford 3, Tarver 2, Mosley 2, Morrow 1.

NORTH vs. CD — Alexander 10, Polk 8, Charleston 8, Tarver 6, Carpenter 5, Maxwell 3, Williams 2, Alford 2, Mosley 1.