Friday’s Basketball Roundup: No. 1 Providence Day escapes David Crockett (Tenn.) upset bid
Elevator
↑Lavar Batts, Concord Robinson: Junior point guard, the No. 1 recruit in North Carolina for the 2017 class, scored his 1,000th point Thursday night.
↑Ray Kowalski, Concord: Senior shooting guard is averaging 28.5 points for the Spiders, No. 6 in the Observer’s Sweet 16. He had a streak of four straight 30-point games end in Friday’s 90-61 victory over West Rowan (he finished with 13). Kowalski is making 65 percent of his field-goal attempts.
↑Connor Reed, Lake Norman Charter: Tied school record with eight 3-point shots in Thursday’s 64-38 victory over Stuart Cramer. Reed finished with 32 points
Friday’s Boys’ Roundup
No. 1 Providence Day 98, David Crockett (Tenn.) 93: The Chargers had leads of 20 or more points three times against the 11th-ranked 3A team in Tennessee but had to withstand a superior performance from senior point guard Patrick Good, who made 10 3-point shots and finished with 44 points. David Crockett (5-1), which came in winning by an average of 24 points per game, made 18 3-point shots. Providence Day got 15 points, eight rebounds, two steals, and two blocks from Isaac Johnson; 13 points, 11 rebounds, four steals from Josh Howard and 11 points, three rebounds and three assists from Trey Wertz.
No. 6 Concord 90, West Rowan 61: Hamsah Nasirildeen had 20 points, Leaky Black 15 and Alon Parker 14 in an easy win. Concord busted the game open, outscoring West Rowan 22-6 in the third.
No. 7 Butler 94, Lancaster (S.C.) 54: Butler advanced to the semifinals of the Winborn Classic at Rock Hill. Sophomores DJ Little (18 points, five rebounds, four charges taken) and Gerrale Gates (15) led the team. The Bulldogs (7-3) will play Wilson (S.C.) in Saturday’s 5 p.m. semifinal at Rock Hill High.
No. 8 Cox Mill 67, Central Cabarrus 61: Ethan Goude and Messiah Baptiste had 15 points and freshman Wendell Moore 14 points and 13 rebounds in a narrow win. Kyran McClure had 25 for Central Cabarrus.
No. 9 Sun Valley 58, Parkwood 35: Ethan LeGrand had 20 as Sun Valley won for the fourth time in five tries.
No. 12 East Lincoln 87, Bunker Hill 37: The Mustangs scored a school-record 61 points in the first half. Senior Hayden Duggins had 27 points, junior Sage Surratt had 24 points, seven assists and four steals. Freshman John Bean had a career-high 12.
Ardrey Kell 47, Providence 45: Ardrey Kell’s Michael Crosby made all eight of his free throws, including two with three seconds left for the winning points. As a team, Ardrey Kell – 3-1 in the SoMeck 8 4A – made 17 of 18 free throws. Luiz Machado Jr. led Providence with 10.
Carmel Christian 76, Westminster Catawba 51: Freshman Myles Pierre had 20 points, six rebounds and six steals for Carmel Christian, which also got big games from Josh Jones (16 points, seven assists) and Jon Bryan (15 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks). Chris Pickel led Westminster Catawba with 15.
Charlotte Christian 77, Christ The King 69: Charlotte Christian led 61-26 before the Crusaders (6-8) made a big comeback behind nine fourth-quarter 3-pointers. Michael Grigg had 21 of his 28 points in the fourth. Charlotte Christian (5-5) got 17 points and seven assists from freshman JC Tharrington and 12 points and 10 rebounds from Rob Peterson to survive.
Charlotte Latin 67, Hickory Grove 42: Bates Jones had 19 points and 10 rebounds to pace Latin (3-6), which held Hickory Grove (2-7) to 17 combined points in the second and fourth quarters. Latin got 11 points from Caleb Jordan and Jackson Farr and 10 from Parker Julian.
Cannon 74, Statesville Christian 58: Philip McKenzie had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Jairus Hamilton added nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the win.
Hough 74, AL Brown 58: Sophomore Qon Murphy had 23 points and Ryan Friday and Cooper Crawford added 12. Murphy has scored 75 points in his last three games for Hough (7-4, 2-1 MECKA). Damon Johnson had 17 for Brown (3-5, 0-3).
Independence 83, John Paul (Australia) 33: Matthew Statile had 20 points, Marcus Thomas 19, Victor Tshiona 12 and Matthew Smith and Colin Holland had 10 each for the Patriots in an easy win.
West Charlotte 59, Hopewell 42: The Lions got 21 points from Jalen Knight and 10 from Daequan Hatchett and gradually pulled away from Hopewell for a MECKA conference win. Brian Smart had 13 for Hopewell.
Mount Pleasant 77, Gray Stone Day 40: Jacob Lee had 25 and Thomas Boshears 14 for Mount Pleasant (5-6). Frankie Rivell had 10 for Gray Stone Day.
Mountain Island Charter 63, Arborbrook Christian 48: Shaddai Boots had 24 points and Patrick Austin (10 points, 10 rebounds) had his sixth double-double.
Boys’ Top Performers
Jamarius Burton, Berry: 6-foot-4 sophomore wing had career-high 33 points and eight rebounds in a 73-57 win against Harding. TJ Talley had 17 for the Rams.
Michael Grigg, Christ The King: 28 points, seven assists, three rebounds in 77-69 loss to Charlotte Christian. Grigg had 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Cam Hamilton, Vance: 27 points, six assists, four steals, three rebounds in 70-50 win over Mallard Creek.
Albert Horn, Rocky River: 28 points, 10 rebounds in 73-63 victory over Cardinal Gibbons at the Chick-fil-A Classic in Columbia. Raquan Brown added 20 points, six assists and four rebounds.
Quan McCluney, Gaston Day: 6-5 sophomore post had 36 points in a 78-76 overtime victory over Westchester Country Day. Hugh Crump added 16 for Gaston Day (5-4).
Kody Shubert, Lincoln Charter: 28 points, five assists, five rebounds and a steal for sophomore point guard in 81-37 win over Thomas Jefferson. Senior Logan Foster made 4-of-7 3-point field goal attempts. Lincoln Charter made 13-of-28 3-point attempts as a team.
Grant Williams, Devon Dotson, Providence Day: Williams had 24 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks, five assists and a steal in the victory over David Crockett. Dotson added a career-high 29 points and five assists.
Girls’ Roundup
No. 6 Ardrey Kell 60, Providence 39: The Knights (9-2, 4-0 SoMeck 8 4A) got 12 points from Deniyah Lutz and 10 each from Monae Brown and Danielle Griffin. Lily Bowen had 13 for the Panthers.
No. 9 Charlotte Christian 48, Christ The King 33: Kerstie Phills had 20 points to lead Christian (7-2) to the win. Catherine Strickland had 21 of her team’s 33 points for Christ The King.
Wilson (S.C.) 58, No. 8 Weddington 50: Wilson, ranked No. 6 among S.C. 4A teams, escaped an upset bid from 3A Weddington despite 22 points from Molly Mann, who had her third straight 20-point game. D’asia Gregg (18) and Bryanna Goodson (17) led Wilson.
Berry 61, Harding 43: Rakayla Nesbitt and Jordan McLaughlin scored 15 points each in the win. Ra’Shika White added 11 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and four blocks.
Charlotte Latin 49, Hickory Grove 40: The Hawks got 15 points from Kiera Dowell and 16 from Kathryn Vandiver and improved to 8-1. Hickory Grove fell to 1-8.
Hough 46, A.L. Brown 31: Renee Alquiza had 22 points and Kaila Thompson 11 for Hough.
Monroe 67, Albemarle 36: Tanaja Stevenson had 16 points, eight steals and four assists and Tyriona Houston had 14 points, eight rebounds and four steals for Monroe.
Statesville Christian 46, Cannon 44: Amy Holchin and Aasia McNeill had 10 points each in the win. Sierra Davis had 17 for Cannon (6-4).
Girls’ Top Performers
RiKoya Anderson, Rock Hill: 19 points, 10 rebounds, three steals in 84-36 victory over York Prep. Rock Hill is No. 7 in the Sweet 16.
Mahaley Holit, Central Cabarrus: 19 points, four assists, four steals in a 60-58 win against Cox Mill. Elania Bost hit the winning shot at the buzzer.
Destiny Johnson, East Lincoln: 26 points in a 58-54 victory over Bunker Hill.
Chantel Williams, Mallard Creek: 15 points, seven assists, five rebounds for No. 2 Mallard Creek in 68-40 victory over No. 16 Vance.
Zaria Wright, Concord First Assembly: 27 points, five rebounds and five assists in an 80-63 loss to Hammond School. Wright played in her first game in nearly three weeks.
This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Friday’s Basketball Roundup: No. 1 Providence Day escapes David Crockett (Tenn.) upset bid."