By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

THOMASVILLE — South Rowan’s boys basketball team has won one in a row.

That’s the only current streak the program has. The 57-game losing streak, the longest by quite a bit in modern Rowan County history, ended on Tuesday night with the Raiders’ exciting 46-45 win at Thomasville.

It wasn’t a home win and it wasn’t a county win and it wasn’t a South Piedmont conference win. It was a win against a 4-9 1A team that North Rowan smashed 100-69, but none of that really mattered. The bottom line was it’s a win for South, and 1-12 never felt so good.

South didn’t just get a monkey off its back — the Raiders removed a 400-pound gorilla that had taken up residence there. There were a lot of nice, hard-working South players who appeared destined to go their entire varsity careers without a victory, but now they know what winning feels like.

The victory in the Chair City came in Justin Pauley’s second game after he was named interim head coach. The previous head coach, Daniel Blevins, who led South from the COVID days through this season’s Christmas Tournament, had the opportunity to move back close to his roots and his family in the Wilkes County area. Blevins started teaching science classes at Elkin High on Monday of this week, and he’ll also be an assistant football coach there.

The losing streak was at 56 when Pauley took over. South came reasonably close to winning in his debut last Friday, but missed 14 free throws and lost 60-53 at home to East Rowan.

“Honestly, some people told me I was crazy to take the job at South,” Pauley said. “They said South Rowan was on their way to losing 100 in a row, that there was no way they could ever win. But I’m a competitor in everything I do and I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe South had a chance to win. Now it’s a matter of getting players to believe they can win, and we’re on the road to building a winning mindset. It helps that we had a positive outcome at Thomasville. Guys saw that the things I’ve been talking to them about doing can work.”

Personnel-wise, Pauley has made one key change, bringing sophomore Jelani King back to the varsity where he began the season, and installing him as an integral part of the rotation. He’s an athletic post man, a different kind of player than Brooks Overcash and James Ritchie, undersized posts who always play their lungs and hearts out. but lack King’s length and spring. It’s not rocket science that South could not have won at Thomasville without King. He had 13 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks while playing roughly half the game. Shot-blocking may be King’s forte, but he’ll have to learn to pick his spots. He can’t try to block every shot or he’ll stay in foul trouble. He’s young and raw, so he reacts strongly to whistles when he feels he’s been wronged. He got a technical for reacting on Friday.

“We’re working on handling the adversity that comes our way and keeping emotions on an even keel,” Pauley said. “He’s a really good kid, and he can be a monster player if he keeps developing. My job is to help him with that development.”

Pauley also has made one style adjustment. South had gotten used to losing by 30 or 40, so if South got the ball down the floor, guys were taking the first available shot. Pauley has insisted on making more passes to slow the game down, to make opposing defenses work harder.

“I thought we did a good job at Thomasville of not just jacking up the first shot we had,” Pauley said. “Two or three additional passes always gets you a better shot, and we’ve got some guys who can shoot. We’ve got a lot to work on. We’ve got to get better at beating pressure, for one thing. but I think guys saw that slowing things down a little bit can be good for them.”

Corbin Goodman, one of South’s shooters, got the party started on Tuesday. He made two 3-pointers to get the Raiders off to a 6-0 lead.

It was 7-4 South after a quarter. South played solid half-court defense, a 1-2-2 zone. Thomasville did not score a point in the first quarter against South’s set defense. Both Bulldog buckets were in transition.

King had a strong second quarter on the boards, and Bryce Burris and Carter Rohletter made 3-pointers. The Raiders took a 21-14 lead to the half.

A transition bucket by Jadon Moore gave South a 10-point lead in the third quarter. The Raiders took a 32-25 lead to the fourth quarter.

South was still up 10 — 40-30 — with 2:41 left in the game, but you can’t end a 57-game losing streak with a normal game. This one got crazy.

In the span of 26 seconds, Thomasville scored eight points, all on free throws, to cut South’s lead to 40-38. South had two technical fouls during that stretch.

Rohletter made two free throws for a 42-38 lead, but a Thomasville steal and layup made it 42-40.

Rohletter went back to the foul line and made his first shot for 43-40. He missed the second one, but King got the stick-back for 45-40 with 36 seconds left. King got that bucket while falling to his knees.

Thomasville didn’t give up. A 3-pointer, followed by a steal and layup made it 45-all with seven seconds left.

Rohletter got off the last shot with time running out, a contested banker from about 12 feet that rolled off the rim. King soared to grab the carom and was fouled with less than a second left.

King had two free throws to decide it. He missed the first, but rattled in the second one.

“There was a ton of pressure on King, especially after missing the first one, but he came through,” Pauley said.

When a Th0masville desperation heave missed, the Raiders found themselves in the unusual position of celebrating. South had not won a  boys basketball game since beating West Iredell on Nov. 18, 2022. There were no victories to celebrate in the calendar years of 2023 and  2024, but 2025 is a different story. The Raiders own a modest one-game winning streak.

“These are pretty low-key kids, so there wasn’t any crazy behavior,” Pauley said. “But in the locker room, they were pretty jacked up. And I was excited for them.”

South Rowan    7   14   11   14   — 46

Thomasville      4    10   11  20   — 45

SOUTH scoring — Goodman 13, King 13, Rohletter 10, Moore 4, Burris 3, Overcash 2, Littlejohn 1.