Staff report

SPENCER — North Rowan’s boys basketball team bounced back from a shaky outing against Central Davidson and blew out Thomasville 100-69 on Friday for a Central Carolina Conference win.

North (2-1, 2-0) got back on track on a significant night for head coach Jason Causby.

The win was his 275th as a high school boys basketball head coach in Rowan County. The only coach with more wins on the all-time list is Mike Gurley, who piled up 450 in 25 seasons at West Rowan.

Causby just began his seventh season at North. He’s 104-52 as head coach of the Cavaliers. He was 157-111 in 10 seasons at Salisbury. The 0ther 14 wins came during a brief stint at North Hills Christian.

Causby had been tied with Bob Hundley on the all-time list before Friday’s game. Hundley had 274 wins in 18 seasons at North. Sam Gealy had 266 wins in 16 seasons at North and Salisbury. Bob Pharr had 252 wins and a .716 winning percentage during a 14-year run at Boyden High, which became Salisbury High.

Emari Russell (21 points), Carter Williams (18), JP Polk (12) and Tristen Brown (10) scored in double figures for North as they overwhelmed the young Bulldogs.

Russell, a combo guard who played mostly off the ball on Friday, threw down a two-handed dunk. He had seven assists and eight steals.

Williams, a sophomore who had eight steals, seven rebounds and six assists, is just starting to come into his own after an up-and-down freshman season on the varsity.

“He played an even better floor game than his stat line, and his stat line was really good,” Causby said.

Jo Jo Tarver also had a terrific game with eight points, five assists and a lot of defense.

“Jo Jo had a breakout game and face-guarded their leading scorer and main ball-handler,” Causby said. “All he got was four free throws while Jo Jo was guarding him.”

North led by 13 after a quarter and had a 56-31 lead at halftime.

One of North’s top players, Dzarious Carpenter, did not play on Friday. He’s not injured. That was a coach’s decision. Causby said Carpenter will return to action in North’s next game.

Ziyhan Taylor led Thomasville (1-5, 0-2) with 17 points.

Thomasville   14    17   17   21   — 69

North Rowan  27   29   22  22   — 100

NORTH scoring — Russell 21, Williams 18, Polk 12, Brown 10, Mosley 8, Tarver 8, Alford 7, Feamster 6, Sullivan 5, K. Carpenter 3, Jefferies 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Gurley, West 25 450 224 .667 Bob Hundley, North 18 274 189 .592
J. Causby, SHS-NH-NR 17 273 175 .609 Sam Gealy, NR-Sal 16 266 139 .657 Bob Pharr, Boy-Sal 14 252 100 .716