Staff report

Friday’s games

Boys

Lexington (16-4, 13-2 CCC) at South Rowan (4-17, 4-11 CCC)

Lexington is tied for first with North Davidson and beat the Raiders 73-49 in the first meeting.

Braden Graham scored 19 in South’s first meeting with the Yellow Jackets. He’s the No. 2 scorer in Rowan with 19.3 points per game.

Barrett Thompson is coming off one of his best games. He had 14 points in Tuesday’s loss to Thomasville.

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Salisbury (13-7, 10-5 CCC) at East Davidson (1-19, 1-14 CCC)

The Hornets are coming off a big win against Ledford and are in the fight for third place in the CCC.

Zay Kesler is averaging 16.2 points for the Hornets.  Kesler scored 16 as Salisbury cruised 68-45 in the first meeting with the Golden Eagles.

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West Rowan (11-8, 5-2 NPC) at North Iredell (9-12, 4-3 NPC)

This is a pivotal game for the tied-for-first Falcons, who are coming off a loss at South Iredell.

West beat North Iredell 75-58 in Mount Ulla.

Jalen Moss (17.9) is the leading scorer for West. Shooter Sam Wood has been hot and has scored more points in West’s last two games (30) than he did in the first 17.

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Carson (11-10, 4-3 NPC) at Statesville (14-5, 5-2 NPC)

Carson beat the Greyhounds in China Grove 71-58, with EJ Clark, AJ Mauldin and Javon Smith combining for 69 points.

Carson is 1-3 since that huge victory, while the Greyhounds have won their last four. Statesville is now tied for first with West Rowan in the tightly bunched NPC.

Clark leads the county with 20.4 points per game.

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East Rowan (2-19, 0-7 NPC) at South Iredell (6-14, 3-4 NPC)

East lost to South Iredell 54-52 in Granite Quarry and hopes to upset the Vikings tonight.

Vincent Jones and Cameron Padgett led East in the first meeting.

Jones has become a force in recent weeks and has averaged 12 points per game in East’s last six contests.

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North Rowan (14-6, 12-2 YVC) at Gray Stone (1-15, 1-11 YVC)

North Rowan has already won two YVC games this week, including a huge one at Chatham Central that vaulted the Cavaliers back into the league race.

The Cavaliers  got 16 points from Brandon White when they beat Gray Stone in Spencer.

North plays again on Saturday. That one will be at home at 7 p.m. against a towering Moravian Prep (25-2) squad.

Moravian Prep, located in Hudson, near Hickory, features N.C. State-bound Josh Hall, a 6-foot-9 wing player.  Hall is a top-50 player nationally and picked N.C. State over Louisville, LSU, Florida State, Texas and many others.

Hall grew up in Durham. His father is Quincy Hall, who played at West Rowan and East Carolina. Quincy Hall and North Rowan coach Jason Causby have known each other since their  school days at West Rowan, which helped this game come about.

Moravian Prep also has former A.L. Brown standout Amare Haynie and a number of players who are being highly recruited. Javarzia Belton (6-foot-10) has a number of Division I offers.

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A.L. Brown (15-5, 5-2 SPC) at Central Cabarrus (13-8, 4-3 SPC)

It’s a key game for the Wonders, who edged the Vikings 59-57 in the first meeting behind 20 points by Kheni Briggs.

In his 23rd season, A.L. Brown coach Shelwyn Klutz is closing in on his 300th win with the program.

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Davie (12-8, 3-4 CPC) at Glenn (12-9, 5-2 CPC)

Davie got big games from Zaharee Maddox and Luke Williams and beat Glenn 63-54 in the first meeting.

Glenn is one game behind first-place R.J. Reynolds.

 

Girls

Lexington (6-13, 2-13) at South Rowan (4-17, 3-12)

The top eight in the CCC make the conference tournament, so this is an important game for the Raiders.

They beat Lexington in the first meeting 49-38 with Bethany Rymer scoring 15 points.

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Salisbury (19-1, 15-0) at East Davidson (0-20, 0-15)

Salisbury has won 11 in a row.

The Hornets aren’t expected to have much trouble clinching the CCC championship tonight.

Salisbury wins with defense, but the Hornets also have two of the county’s top six scorers in Kyla Bryant and Anayia Fulson.

Sophomore Rachel McCullough’s first point tonight will be the 500th of her career.

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West Rowan (17-3, 5-2 NPC) at North Iredell (3-18, 0-7 NPC)

West looks to bounce back from an upset loss at South Iredell.

Abigail Wilson is the female athlete of the week for the state. She’s averaging 27.9 points per game and has scored 30-plus four games in a row.

West routed North Iredell 64-20 in the first meeting.

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Carson (18-3, 6-1 NPC) at Statesville (5-14, 2-5 NPC)

Carson’s three losses have all been in close games. Two were to West Rowan, including the Christmas tournament championship game.

West’s loss on Tuesday helped Carson climb back into first place.

Maci Cooper has scored 46 points in her last three outings.

Carson rolled 60-39 in the first meeting with Statesville. Colbie Perry scored 15 in that one.

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East Rowan (16-5, 4-3 NPC) at South Iredell (9-10, 4-3 NPC)

East has lost two in a row and probably is in for a fight tonight against a South Iredell team that can really shoot.

East pounded South Iredell inside in the first meeting and won 68-51 with Mary Spry scoring a career-high 23 points.

East senior Adalie Harrison is closing in on 1,000 career points and has 964.

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North Rowan (15-7, 11-3 YVC) at Gray Stone (17-0, 12-0 YVC)

North lost 60-35 in the first meeting with a strong Gray Stone team. Natavia Taborn led the Cavaliers in that game with 14 points.

North sophomore Hannah Wilkerson is the No. 2 scorer in the county with 14.9 points per game.

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A.L. Brown (7-13, 3-4 SPC) at Central Cabarrus (16-5, 7-0 SPC)

Central Cabarrus’ girls haven’t lost since December.

A.L. Brown lost 55-36 in the first meeting with the Vikings.

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Davie (0-21, 0-7 CPC) at Glenn  (18-1, 7-0 CPC)

Davie almost won Tuesday against R.J. Reynolds, but Glenn is one of the state’s top teams.