Staff report

CONCORD — Jeremiah Howard had 18 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks to lead Concord to a 99-54 romp against East Rowan on Tuesday.

The Spiders settled the outcome in the opening minutes of the South Piedmont Conference game, bolting to a 19-0 lead. East couldn’t beat the Spiders’ press very often and even if the Mustangs did, 6-foot-7 Jeremiah Howard was waiting at the rim to reject the shot. He swatted several layup attempts in the first few minutes, and even jumped out to the 3-point line to block an attempt by East shooter Drake Jones.

East coach Andrew Porter used his first timeout with the Mustangs down 9-0; his second one came after Howard shook Rimer Gym with a resounding dunk to make it 19-0.

“Just a slow, bad start,” East coach Andrew Porter said. “Too many mental mistakes and turnovers, and they jumped on us. We played better after that.”

Jonathan Wembolua got East on the board with a pair of free throws with 4:03 left in the first quarter.

Avery Arnez made a jumper from near the foul line with 1:46 left in the quarter for the Mustangs’ first field goal. That made it 29-6.

Concord (9-6, 6-1) shut out Jones for nearly 10 minutes at the start and built a 35-10 lead.

When Jones did get on a roll, it was fun for fans to watch, but it was too little and too late. He drilled five 3-pointers in the second quarter, and the Spiders settled for a 53-32 lead at the halftime break.

Concord stretched its lead to 79-48 after three quarters and socked the Mustangs with a wicked run early in the fourth. Scoring 10 unanswered to start the period, Concord roared ahead 89-48 to achieve the running clock that comes with a 40-point lead.

Jones added one 3-pointer in the third quarter for an 18-point night. Wembolua got seven of his nine points at the foul line.

East (2-12, 1-6) played without Ti’Jon Everhart and PJ Butler, both of whom missed the game with knee injuries.

Judah Freeman scored 10 of his 22 points in the first quarter for Concord. Jaden Reid had a big fourth quarter and scored 17.

East              10    22    16    6    — 54

Concord     33     20    26    20  — 99

EAST — Jones 18, Wembolua 9, Lino 7, Arnez 5, Bradley 4, Klingler 3, Krider 3, Chesney 2, Gibson 2, Reid 1.

CONCORD — Judah Freeman 22, Howard 18, Reid 17, Crowder 12, Beyan 9, Jadah Freeman 8, Starnes 4, Rushmeyer 4, Phillips 3, Johnson 2.