High school boys basketball: Falcons end regular season with road loss
Published 10:24 pm Saturday, February 17, 2024
CONCORD — Had it been a boxing match, they would have stopped it after seven minutes because West Rowan’s boys basketball team was beating Northwest Cabarrus senseless.
At that point on Friday, West’s Will Givens had three 3-pointers in the scorebook, Josiah Young was rejecting every NWC layup attempt, and even with some unsettling block/charge whistles, the Falcons led 17-2.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, it wasn’t a prize fight. Northwest came back on Senior Night, outscored West 63-35 the rest of the way and won 65-52 to conclude the South Piedmont Conference regular season with a bang.
While the teams tied for fifth, Northwest Cabarrus swept the Falcons. Northwest lost twice to Carson, but West swept Carson. It was that kind of season in the middle of the SPC. NWC and West both are in good shape to make the playoffs. The Trojans moved up to 24th in the 3A West RPI rankings, while West Rowan fell to 26th. But 32 make the bracket.
While Northwest (13-10, 8-8) was dealing with the emotional whirlwind that comes with every Senior Night, West opened on fire. Evan Kennedy and Givens made 3-pointers for 6-0. Givens’ second triple made it 13-2 and his third one made it 17-2.
Northwest’s Isaac Woolfolk made the straigh-on 3-pointer that made it a 17-5 game after a quarter, and that shot energized his teammates. The Trojans got back-to-bacl 3s by Landon Rowe, battered West in the second quarter and trailed only 25-22 at halftime.
There were lead changes in the third quarter. West got behind but a five-point flurry by Kayvone Norman put the Falcons up by four, and a transition pull-up by Givens put the Falcons back up by six. West’s lead was 39-34 heading to a fourth quarter that turned into a Northwest Cabarrus layup line.
Rowe, Woolfolk and Jordan Gonder got to the rim or the foul line throughout the last eight minutes. The last tie was at 43-all with six minutes left when Givens made another bucket. Woolfolk drove for the two that put NWC ahead to stay.
Free-throw shooting doomed the Falcons. Northwest made nine free throws in the fourth quarter, while the Falcons were shooting 1-for-7 at the line. For the game, West was 4-for-20 on free throws. Had the Falcons been able to make their foul shots in the first quarter — they went 1-for-6 — they may have been able to bury the slow-starting Trojans.
Givens scored 20 for the Falcons, but he was the only man in double figures.
NWC got 20 from Rowe, 19 from Woolfolk and 13 from Gonder.
The SPC tournament starts Monday, with West at third-seeded Concord and Northwest at fourth-seeded Carson.
West 17 8 14 13 — 52
NWC 5 17 12 31 — 65
WEST — Givens 20, Kennedy 8, Holmes 6, Norman 5, Young 4, Martin 4, Tucker 2, Graham 2, Hairston 1.
NWC — Rowe 20, Woolfolk 19, Jordan Gonder 13, Lee 9, Dellinger 2, Justin Gonder 2.
West (12-11,