By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó Seniors Addison Corriher, Reid Shaver, Dakota Walker, Steven Johnson and Hunter Morrison likely played their last game in the South Rowan gym Monday.
They made it count. South beat Mooresville 71-60 in the first round of the NPC tournament. The Raiders could earn a home state playoff game by winning the tournament, but that would require a pair of monumental upsets.
Shaver, who has put up an all-county season, exited with five fouls after another night of flinging his 6-foot-1 frame into the air, into bodies and onto the floor.
Morrison, who has put up an all-world season, left the court to an ovation with 32 seconds remaining and South’s second winning season since 1996 assured.
Morrison had 18 points, including 13 in a Maravich-like burst in the second quarter when he hit five straight shots.
Juniors Blake Houston, John Davis and B.J. Grant also enjoyed stellar games. Houston accounted for a career-high 17 points. Grant had eight of his nine rebounds in the second half. Davis was 4-for-4 at the line in the fourth quarter and hit a key 3-pointer.
“The young guys played very well,” South coach John Davis said.
Fifth-seeded South (14-11) shot 53 percent in the first half, and Houston hit half of its six 3-pointers. South led 39-27 at halftime.
“Hunter was attracting a lot of defense and making great passes,” Houston said. “I was able to make a few shots early. That gave me a lot of confidence.”
Fourth-seeded Mooresville (10-11) made a terrific run in the third quarter by crashing the offensive glass.
The Blue Devils weren’t making outside shots over South’s zone defense, but they had five stickbacks in the quarter.
South’s lead peaked at 16 points early in the second half, but it was down to 50-47 by the end of the third.
“What happened was we had some defenders flip-flopped and had some smaller guys inside who weren’t blocking out that well,” Coach Davis said. “They were getting second-chance points after second-chance points. We had to find some way to stop the bleeding.”
Houston stopped it. The biggest shot all night was the 3-pointer he swished to open the fourth quarter when his team was reeling.
“Reid set a good screen for me to run off of,” Houston said. “Little John (Davis) got the ball to me. Fortunately, I knocked it down.”
During the next two minutes, Morrison drove and kicked out to Houston and Davis. They hit 3s, the lead swelled back to double digits and South was back in charge.
“You have to give South credit because they made a whole lot of big shots,” Mooresville coach Mike Micklow said. “That’s their game. Morrison penetrates. Then guys make wide-open 3s.
“I thought we did a good job on Morrison most of the night, but we ran out of gas. Charlie (Wilson) was on him most of the time, and when one guy guards him a long time, he’s going to be exhausted.”
Micklow, who got 18 points from freshman Shawn Lester, had the higher-seeded team but didn’t object to playing at South as part of a first-round doubleheader along with the schools’ girls teams.
The Raiders won 78-50 at home during the regular season.
“We wanted to come back to make some amends for laying down over here earlier,” Micklow said. “I thought we did. We played hard. Besides, we’ll be on the road the rest of the way.”
Morrison reached 500 points for the season. He’s only the fourth Raider to achieve that milestone.
Coach Davis shakes his head about the fortunate arrival of Morrison, the son of missionaries who had been stationed in Bangladesh prior to his sophomore season.
“Little John came back from the South Y and told me there was this new guy over there who was really good,” Coach Davis recalled. “I asked him how good. He said, ‘Well, Dad, he can beat me.’ ”
The Raiders got Morrison. Since then, he’s beaten a lot of people.
mooresville (60) ó Lester 18, Patterson 11, K. Johnson 10, I. Johnson 7, Wilson 6, Blackwood 4, Willis 4, Sutton, Ryan, Caldwell, Samuel.
South Rowan (71) ó Morrison 18, Houston 17, Davis 11, Walker 8, Shaver 7, S. Johnson 5, Grant 5, Corriher, McDaniel, D. Johnson.
Mooresville 12 15 20 13 ó 60
S. Rowan 17 22 11 21 ó 71