From staff reports
Friday games …
CONCORD — Central Cabarrus, undefeated and with a chance to repeat as 3A state champion, blew out West Rowan 85-47 in South Piedmont Conference action.
West doesn’t have a lot of experienced size, and the Falcons had little chance of coping with Central’s 6-foot-10 Josh Dalton and 6-foot-6 DJ Kent, senior towers who teamed for 42 points and 15 rebounds despite sitting down some and despite 13-plus minutes being played with a running clock.
Central Cabarrus may have set records for dunks, attempted dunks and dunk attempts on passes off the backboard.
Central (13-0, 5-0) didn’t start like a freight train, with quite a few point-blank misses in the first two minutes, but the Falcons (6-5, 3-2) couldn’t get anything to fall even if they were able to break Central’s wicked press.
It was 15-0 when Kayvone Norman finally scored on a drive to get the Falcons on the board. It was 21-2 when Romir Hairston made a free throw. By the end of the quarter, Central was up 29-3. After that, it was just Showtime for a full home gym.
Will Givens played well for the Falcons. He had eight rebounds, four steals and three assists. The senior sniper’s 21 points were smooth as he continued a steady march toward 1,000 for his career, but they were quiet. He made a 3-pointer to start the second quarter. That made it 29-6. His other two 3-pointers came in the final minutes of the contest.
West made 29 turnovers. Central shot a strong 8-for-15 on 3-pointers, but most of the demoralizing damage was done in the paint by Dalton, who had 20 and 10, and Kent, who scored 22.
Central achieved 40-point separation and the running clock that goes with it with 5:36 remaining in the third quarter. It was 62-22 at that point.
The Falcons have to move on, as they’ve got an important and winnable home game vs. Robinson on Tuesday.
West Rowan 3 17 17 10 — 47
Central Cab. 29 25 20 11 — 85
WEST — Givens 21, Holmes 9, Hairston 5, Kennedy 4, Graham 2, Norman 2, Young 2, D. Martin 2.
CENTRAL — Kent 22, Dalton 20, Russell 14, Smith 8, Chase Daniel 6, Burse-Jones 4, Baker 3, K. Martin 3, Edmisten 3, Carson Daniel 2.
•••
CONCORD — Northwest Cabarrus crushed East Rowan 72-34 in South Piedmont Conference action.
East finished the game on a 7-0 run to lose by 38. Mason McKenzie made a 3-pointer in that late flurry.
Landon Rowe had a terrific outing for the Trojans. He made two 3-pointers and got 18 of his 20 points in the first half. He sat down most of the second half.
It was over quickly. Relentless Northwest (8-5, 3-3) got a ton of offensive rebounds and stick-backs early.
The Trojans led 9-0 when Ti’Jon Everhart made a 3-pointer to get East on the board. It was 16-3 before the Mustangs (2-10, 1-5) got their second bucket, and it was 24-7 after the first quarter.
Northwest brought capable players off the bench and expanded the lead to 43-18 by halftime.
The Trojans began the third quarter with 14 unanswered points and took a 60-20 lead — for a running clock — about three minutes into the second half.
Jonathan Wembolua led East with 12 points, although six came very late in the contest.
East 7 11 4 12 — 34
NWC 24 19 24 5 — 72
EAST — Wembolua 12, Jones 7, Everhart 6, McKenzie 3, Chesney 2, Reid 2, Butler 2.
•••
CONCORD — Concord’s Chris Arellano pounced a like a big cat, shocking everyone by slapping a 3-point attempt by South Rowan’s crafty guard Dalton Young right out of the sky.
Arellano is 6-foot-6, 220 pounds. He’s a senior and he’s pretty good, and he doesn’t start for Concord because Concord has 6-foot-7, 250-pound star Jeremiah Howard manning the middle.
The talent level of the Cabarrus boys teams overwhelms the Rowan squads, at times, and South at Concord fell into that category.
“We could not match their physicality,” said South coach Daniel Blevins in one of the understatements of the year. “It wasn’t good.”
Rowan’s visits to Cabarrus on Friday produced three running-clock South Piedmont Conference games. West at Central Cabarrus and East at Northwest Cabarrus were buzz-saw games that were just as one-sided as the Raiders’ trip to Rimer Gym to face the Spiders.
Concord won 85-39.
Howard dunked about five seconds after tip-off, and Concord (8-5, 5-0), which stayed tied for first in the league with Central Cabarrus, never trailed.
Drew Blackwell made a 3-pointer on South’s first shot attempt, but it was all downhill from there.
South trailed by a respectable 12-7 after a Young layup, but Concord’s Ty Rushmeyer was raining 3s, Howard was trying to tear down the rim, and it was 28-9 after a quarter.
South fought in the second quarter, got some free throws from Young and buckets from Zion Jackson and made it to halftime trailing 47-23, Arellano had an authoritative bucket for the final points of the half.
A realistic goal for South was to play the full 32 minutes, to stave off the running clock. Deep into the third quarter, it looked like the Raiders could do that.
But then the wheels came off. South wore down.
Concord scored 10 straight to get the running clock (a 40-point lead) at 75-35 early in the fourth quarter, and then extended the run to 19 straight points before South was able to break the drought with a 3-pointer by Corbin Goodman.
Rushmeyer made five 3-pointers and scored 17, Howard had 16 points and nine boards. Arellano made his time on the court count with 10 points, six rebounds and two serious swats. Jaden Reid and Jayden Beyan also reached double figures.
South 9 14 12 4 — 39
Concord 28 19 20 18 — 85
SOUTH — Young 14, Jackson 7, Blackwell 5, Moore 3, Ritchie 3, Goodman 3, Overcash 2, Jones 2.
•••
MOORESVILLE— Lake Norman’s strong boys team thumped A.L. Brown 82-45 in a Greater Metro Conference game.
The Wildcats (12-1, 1-0) led 27-6 after a quarter and by 50-24 at the half.
