Prep Basketball: Lexington boys 72, North Rowan 69
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, February 17, 2009
By Mike Duprez
sports@salisburypost.com
LEXINGTON ó North Rowan led Lexington at halftime twice in the span of four days.
Both times the Yellow Jackets managed to solve their problems.
Nick Parsons scored 23 points and Quandarious Crump exploded to score all 20 of his points in the second half as third-seeded Lexington rallied for a 72-69 victory over the sixth-seeded Cavaliers in the first round of the CCC tournament Monday.
Lexington surged into the lead with an 18-2 run but had to fend off North’s own rally and couldn’t exhale until Julian Hicks missed a 3-pointer right before the buzzer.
“In both games, between the third and fourth quarters, they managed to come back,” North coach Kelly Everhart said. “I thought we did a good job of coming back and making it interesting anyway. But Lexington’s got a good ball club.”
The Yellow Jackets (16-9) will face second-seeded Providence Grove, a 86-73 winner over seventh-seeded Ledford, in the semifinals Wednesday night at Central Davidson.
North Rowan, which likely ended its season with a 7-17 record, nearly pulled off the upset on the strength of the 1-2 punch of forward Lamonte Bell and guard D.J. Hipps.
The 6-foot-2 Bell dominated play inside and had a game-high 27 points. Hipps added 21.
“That’s two seniors, and they have been doing that for us all year long,” Everhart said. “I’m proud of those guys and hate to lose them. But Parsons and Crump matched their effort on the other end.”Greg Sims added 11 points for North, which was down 52-43 when it used a trapping defense to create turnovers and put Lexington’s lead in peril.It was more interesting in the end than the Yellow Jackets would have liked, especially after they went just 3-for-8 from the free-throw line in the last minute.
Codie Boger, who otherwise had a solid effort with 15 points, missed two free throws with 8.9 seconds left, leaving North Rowan plenty of time to attempt a game-tying shot. Hicks had an open look and threw up a 25-footer, but Lexington escaped when the ball clanged off the rim.
“They’re not bad,” Lexington coach Robert Hairston said. “They play hard. That was what we expected. I told our guys they had a good chance to win this. They came to play.
“Our guys started really slow again. I don’t know. I wish I had a switch for that.”
The Cavs used a 13-3 run to lead 29-25 at halftime. Things continued to go North Rowan’s way as Bell kept boxing Lexington players out. His putback gave the Cavs a 37-29 advantage and triggered a timeout by Hairston with 5:12 left in the third quarter.
“That’s North Rowan’s style,” Hairston said. “They’re going to get as many inside as they can.”north rowan (69) ó Bell 27, Hipps 21, Sims 11, Hicks 8, Feezor 2, Hargrave, Blakeney, Starks, Rhames, Vogel, Jackson.
lexington (72) ó Parsons 23, Crump 20, Boger 15, Curry 8, McCown 4, Todd 2, Stevenson.
N. Rowan 14 15 14 26 ó 69
Lexington 17 8 27 20 ó 72