From staff reports

CHINA GROVE — Third time’s the charm? Well, not always.

Tough to beat a good team three times? Sure, but it happens.

The future will likely belong to the Cougars, but West Rowan still owns the present.

West Rowan’s boys basketball team is 3-for-3 against Carson after winning 68-64 on the Cougars’ home floor on Tuesday. West had previously won 63-61 in Mount Ulla and 77-72 in a whale of a game staged at Catawba College in the Dale’s Sporting Goods Sam Moir Christmas Classic.

There have been weeks this season when Carson has looked like a better team than West and Carson owns major road victories at Concord and Northwest Cabarrus, but whenever the teams go head-to-head, the Falcons have shown they can turn it up a notch. Kayvone Norman has a history of elevating his game against Carson, while Evan Kennedy’s two biggest scoring games of the season have come against the Cougars.

West (11-7, 7-4) is now certain to finish ahead of Carson in the South Piedmont Conference standings, although the Cougars (11-8, 5-7) finish their SPC schedule against four teams that they beat on their first tour of the league.

Carson fought the flu last week and got clobbered by powerhouses Robinson and Central Cabarrus. It’s possible everyone wasn’t 100 percent, but Carson had its full roster for the first time in a while when it took the floor against West.

Both teams put four in double figures.

Kennedy had 17 to lead West. Will Givens, who made four 3-pointers, scored 15. Norman and Elijah Holmes had 14 each.

CP Perry led the Cougars with 18. Colin Ball and Jacob Mills scored 12. Drew Neve had 11.

Mills, who missed both Carson games last week, came out on fire. He scored 10 in the early going, but Carson trailed 22-17 after a quarter. Carson’s three freshmen — Perry, Mills and Neve — scored all 17 Cougar points in the first quarter.

Carson had the edge in the second quarter and trailed 36-35 at halftime.

West took a 49-46 lead to the fourth quarter and was able to finish things off by making a lot of free throws.

Kennedy was 6-for-6 at the foul line in the fourth quarter. Norman got to the foul line 13 times and made 10.

Carson missed 11 free throws in the game.

West Rowan    22    14    13    20   — 69

Carson              17     18   11     18     — 64

WEST — Kennedy 17, Givens 15, Holmes 14, Norman 14, Graham 4, Hairston 2, Martin 2, Tucker 1.

CARSON — Perry 18, Ball 12, Mills 12, Neve 11, Drye 6, McGruder 3, Hall 2.

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GRANITE QUARRY — Surging Robinson overwhelmed East Rowan’s boys basketball team 76-32 on Tuesday in South Piedmont Conference action.

“Robinson is fast, athletic and they’ve improved shooting-wise from the first time we played them,” East coach Andrew Porter said. “We couldn’t handle their defensive pressure. They made us play at a fast pace and turned us over.”

Londen Roseman scored 24 points, while Brian Rowe had 18 for the Bulldogs (13-5, 9-2).

East was led by Logan Bradley, who was playing jayvee ball not long ago. He scored 11. Aiden Lino had eight.

East (2-17, 1-11) has been playing without Ti’Jon Everhart for weeks, and Jonathan Wembolua (knee) played limited minutes. Robinson held Drake Jones, East’s leading scorer, to three points.

EAST — Bradley 11, Lino 8, Reid 3, Wembolua 3, Jones 3, Krider 3.

•••

KANNAPOLIS — Lake Norman held A.L. Brown to single digits in every quarter and pounded the Wonders 86-31 in Tuesday’s Greater Metro Conference game.

Masiah Bennermon led the Wonders (8-12, 1-7) with 10 points. Jaylon Adams had five.

Lake Norman (18-1, 7-0)  led 34-18 at halftime and made it a romp with a 29-7 edge in the third quarter.