Staff report

SPENCER – Six of North Rowan’s 14 boys basketball games have come down to one or two plays.

With average luck and execution, you figure to break even on those, but things haven’t gone North’s way so far.The Cavaliers are 2-4 in the tight ones.

One-possession, non-conference losses like the ones to Parkland and South Stanly can be written off as learning experiences, but Central Carolina Conference setbacks are harder to shake off. North lost a tough battle for second place in the CCC with Lexington on Wednesday.

The Yellow Jackets won it 71-66. North (6-8, 3-2) held a five-point lead with under six minutes left, but Lexington (9-8, 5-1) got it done at the end.

It was a fun one to watch for fans. Lexington took it to North in the first quarter. The Cavaliers were the better team in the second quarter and rallied to trail 39-38 at halftime.

North pushed ahead in the third quarter and took a 55-52 lead to the final eight minutes.

But the game swung at about the 6-minute mark, and North became the chaser instead of the chasee.

Down 69-66 with 40 seconds left, the Cavaliers turned it over, and Lexington went on to a take a key road victory.

Jayden Polk scored a season-high 19 for the Cavaliers, who have lost three in a row. Dyzarious Carpenter and Amir Alexander scored 15 apiece.

Lexington put four men in double figures, led by Andre Gyabaah, a 6-foot-5 sophomore forward who scored 19. Rahzel Ewart scored 14.

Lexington          22    17   13   19   — 71

North Rowan    15    23   17  11     — 66

LEXINGTON — Gyabaah 19, Ewart 14, Luketa 10, Holmes 10, Henderson 4, Henry 4, McDonald 2.

NORTH — Polk 19, Alexander 15, Carpenter 15, Maxwell 6, Feamster 4, Alford 2, Charleston 2, Tarver 2.