From staff reports

CHINA GROVE — Carson’s boys basketball team led 21-4 after a quarter and breezed to a running-clock win against South Rowan on Tuesday.

The surging Cougars (8-5, 3-4) won 78-37 for their fifth straight overall victory and third straight in the South Piedmont Conference.

Jacob Mills (16), Drew Neve (15), Jonah Drye (14) and CP Perry (10) scored in double figures for the Cougars.

Colin Ball scored seven of his nine points in the first quarter to help Carson jump out early against the Raiders (0-13, 0-7).

Drye made three 3-pointers and was 5-for-5 from the foul line in the first half. His nine-point second quarter helped Carson take a commanding 47-22 halftime lead.

Mills also made three 3-pointers, and the Cougars got one 3-pointer each from Neve, Ball and Maverick Walters.

Chasen Hall scored six points off the bench.

South shooter Carter Rohletter had a career game with 14 points. Rohletter made four 3-pointers, including three in the second quarter.

He was the only Raider in double figures. Zion Jackson scored nine, but the Cougars held Dalton Young and Aaron Jones below their normal production.

Carson achieved a 40-point lead at 74-34 for the running clock with 4:39 left in the game.

South     4     18    12    3    — 37

Carson   21    26   18   13   — 78

SOUTH — Rohletter 14, Jackson 9, Young 4, Carey 4, Moore 2, Jones 2, Ritchie 2.

CARSON — Mills 16, Neve 15, Drye 14, Perry 10, Ball 9, Walters 7, Hall 6, Williams 1.

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MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan’s boys basketball team averages 62 points per game, but was held to a season-low 42 on Tuesday.

Northwest Cabarrus used an intense defensive effort to handle the Falcons 52-42 in a South Piedmont Conference matchup.

It was a big road win for the Trojans (9-6, 4-4), who bounced back from a tough home loss to Carson. It was a painful home setback for the Falcons (6-6, 3-3), who didn’t play all last week and were unable to shake off the rust.

West got two  3-pointers from Brant Graham in the first quarter and was only down 13-10 after the opening eight minutes, but a five-point second quarter — Will Givens was the only West player to score in that quarter — put the Falcons in a double-digit hole.

Gvens, a senior with 959 career points, made two 3-pointers and scored 17 to lead the Falcons. Deiondre Martin had a career game with nine points off the bench.

WEST scoring — Givens 17, Martin 9, Graham 6, Norman 4, Kennedy 4, Young 2.