Staff report

 GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan’s boys dropped a non-conference basketball game on Monday, losing to an athletic Northwest Cabarrus squad, 69-50.

Jahbori Raines scored 20 for Northwest (2-2).  Jayden Deese and Chris Spears scored 14 each.

“We have to get better on defense, but we did take four charges tonight, and that’s a step in the right direction,” East coach Kurt Misenheimer said.

East (1-3) was led by Gavin Sprinkle with 13 points and Jake Hunter with 12.

“We played decent for three quarters, but we let it get away from us,” Misenheimer said. “But our effort was much better than it was against Central Cabarrus (last week). We kept fighting, so  I can live with that.”

NW CABARRUS (69) — Raines 20, Deese 14, Spears 14, Mckoy 9, Harris 6, Grigley 4.

EAST ROWAN (50) — Sprinkle 13, Hunter 12, Shuping 7, Padgett 6, Jordan 5, Pinckney 5, Miller 2.

NW Cabarrus    15  17  14  23   — 69

East Rowan       15  10  15  10  —  50