Draughn boys collect 1st home win in sweep of Chase

The Draughn boys basketball team began an unprecedented stretch of four games in four days by defeating Western Piedmont 3A/4A Conference foe Chase, 74-68, on Senior Night Tuesday for the Wildcats’ first home victory of the season.

“The guys have really seen a lot of struggles, especially being as young as they are, but they’ve really persevered throughout the year and put in the work and continued to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Draughn fourth-year coach Drew McGuire said. “You can kind of see that through the way we played the past couple games, and it’s really pleasing to see. It’s really good for the guys and their morale.”

Draughn led 19-17 after the first quarter and 43-36 at halftime. However, the Trojans scored the first 12 points of the third period before back-to-back layups from senior Noah Chrisco and a 3-pointer from sophomore Titus Dodd — Chrisco and Dodd had career highs of 14 and 26 points, respectively — put the Wildcats back in front at 50-48.

Chase was up 57-56 entering the fourth quarter, though, and the visitors later enjoyed a 68-67 lead with 3:02 remaining following a three-point play from sophomore Uriah Lipscomb, who led all scorers with 34 points.

From there, Draughn ended the night with its second 7-0 run of the period and its third of the second half. The Wildcats scored via a driving layup from Henry Cooper (nine points), a Dodd floater and free throw, and two foul shots from Christian Hubbard (five points).

Cayden Lewis (15 points), Hunter Ellis (three points), and Jakob Phillips (two points) — the latter of whom is the only other 12th grader on Draughn’s roster — rounded out the Wildcats’ scoring, and McGuire discussed his two seniors after the contest.

“Noah Chrisco is a guy who the past two years has led us in effort on the varsity level,” said McGuire. “He’s a guy who you never have to question if he’s gonna go in there and check out or rotate on the weak side or whatever it may be that you’re asking him to do, you never doubt him. And Jakob Phillips played one year of JV with us and came to us as a senior, and he has been a real bright spot. He’s been injured, but it was good to see him on the court tonight kind of thriving and helping us find a good home win.”

The Wildcats (3-18, 2-9 WPC) fell the next night at unbeaten league leaders East Rutherford, 79-54, falling behind by 13 points after one period and by 20 at the half.

Lewis made four 3s and scored a team-high 21 points to maintain his Burke County scoring lead (at 19.3 points per game), while Dodd and Chrisco added nine and six points, respectively.

Draughn started its weather-forced sprint to the regular-season finish line with a narrow 69-65 home loss to West Caldwell on Feb. 6.

The Wildcats trailed 22-14 after one period but remained down by just eight at the half and cut the deficit to just 54-50 through three periods, though they could not trim the deficit further following the final 8 minutes.

Lewis poured in a game-high 27 points, and he was joined in double figures by Cooper (13), Chrisco (12), and Dodd (10).

The Draughn girls (15-6, 8-3 WPC), meanwhile, topped West Caldwell, 50-32, and blew out Chase, 73-12, before falling at East Rutherford, 63-58, as they failed to lock down no worse than a third-place league finish.

The Lady Wildcats could still end up anywhere between the No. 2 and 4 seeds for next week’s league tournament depending on the outcome of their last three games. Draughn visited Patton late Thursday and traveled to rival East Burke on Friday before ending the regular season at Hibriten on Monday (Feb. 16).

Draughn on Wednesday in Forest City led 10-2 early and 20-11 late in the opening period before East Rutherford surged to a 38-31 halftime lead. The guests trailed by 10 on an East 3 to open the third period but never fell behind by double digits again, tying the game at 43-all on a Bailey Winkler pullup jumper assisted by Taylor Holder and remaining as close as 54-53 down on a Holder 3 with 6 minutes left.

Still trailing 61-58 with the ball in the final minute, Holder attempted a baseline 3 that appeared to be partially blocked before it deflected off the side of the backboard and out of bounds, but possession was awarded to East Rutherford.

Holder drained four 3s and led Draughn with 16 points, Jacey Davis went 8 for 9 at the foul line and added 15 points, and fellow senior Kenley Berry joined them in double figures as she scored eight of her 12 total points in the opening half.

The night before in Valdese, the Lady Wildcats burst to a 25-2 lead after one period that swelled to 50-2 by halftime as the entire second half was played under the mercy-rule running clock.

Seven Draughn players combined to connect on 12 3s as a team in the victory, with Holder, Davis, Winkler, and Makenzie Powell draining at least two apiece from beyond the arc.

Holder scored a game-high 17, joined in double figures by Davis (12), Berry (11), and Winkler (10).

And late last week in their first game in 15 days, the Lady ’Cats pulled away from West Caldwell for good following a sluggish first half thanks to a 22-9 third period advantage.

Davis led Draughn with 15 points, Berry added 12, Winkler had 10, Lindsey Hensley had seven, and Holder finished with six.

Panthers slip below .500 in WPC

Senior Nathan Waters was fouled on a 3-point attempt and sank all three free throws in the final seconds as the shorthanded Patton boys narrowly avoided an upset at R-S Central on Monday, winning 57-55.

That was PHS’ lone victory — boys or girls — in three recent games as the boys lost 97-73 to East Rutherford at home on Feb. 6 before falling 63-47 at second-place Hibriten on Tuesday, while the girls lost by scores of 57-36 to East, 64-43 to R-S, and 58-9 to Hibriten.

Waters’ late heroics, coupled with a game-high 29 points from sophomore Kyle Taylor, were the difference in Rutherfordton to open this week. Taylor finished one point off his career-high in his third consecutive 20-plus point effort as he moved into third place on the county scoring list (16.0 ppg).

PHS’ Karson Kress added nine points, Brady Davis had eight, and Waters scored seven in the win.

The next night in Lenoir, Patton (11-10, 5-6 WPC) was tied after one period but fell behind 36-28 by halftime and 54-39 after three periods en route to the loss. In Patton’s second straight game minus starter and second-leading scorer Olando Norman, Davis scored a team-high 13 points, with Taylor adding 11 and Kress and Waters six apiece.

Both Patton teams hung around in the opening halves against East Rutherford late last week.

The Panther boys were only down 26-22 after the first quarter and 42-34 at halftime. But the Cavaliers scored 27 points in the third period and 28 in the final frame as they rolled to their 10th consecutive win.

Despite the loss, which dropped Patton below .500 in league games for the first time all season, the Panthers received double-digit efforts from Norman (22 points), Taylor (21), and Kress (13).

In the evening’s first varsity game, the Lady Panthers (5-16, 2-9 WPC) trailed just 14-8 after the first quarter and 27-21 at the half. However, the Lady Cavaliers outscored Patton 19-5 in the third period to take control of the contest.

Junior Emma Rolland led a balanced attack for Patton with eight points, while sophomore Hayden Hein scored seven and junior Mia Chapman finished with six.

Patton then led R-S, 12-9, after one period before falling behind by seven points at the half and by 19 through three periods. Chapman led the way with 13 points, followed by Leah Clark with eight and Rolland and Melina Bernabe with seven apiece.

Patton then did not score in the opening half Tuesday, trailing 37-0. Chapman and Rolland scored three points each for the guests.

NCSSM-M girls nab forfeit win

The NCSSM-Morganton teams dropped all eight of their recent on-court contests since Feb. 5, though the Lady Dragons (3-14, 2-11 Catawba River 1A/2A/3A Conf.) gained a forfeit win over Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy on Monday.

The NCSSM-M girls lost on Feb. 5 at Carolina International, 48-28; to Mountain Island Charter at home on Feb. 6, 55-16; at Sugar Creek Charter on Tuesday, 48-25; and at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy on Wednesday, 73-14.

No Lady Dragons’ statistics were reported from any of those games. Also, no NCCSM-Bonnie Cone boys result was reported Monday.

The Dragon boys (3-13, 2-10 CRC) lost by scores of 78-47 to Carolina International; 68-44 to Mountain Island Charter; 70-42 to Sugar Creek Charter; and 66-47 to Thomas Jefferson.

Branson Pittman led NCSSM-M with 15 points against Carolina International and 24 points against Sugar Creek Charter, adding 13 against Mountain Island Charter. Nash Taylor’s 19 points represented a team-high against Mountain Island Charter, and he also hit double digits with 10 against Carolina International.

No NCSSM-M boys statistics were reported from Wednesday’s road loss in Rutherford County.

Neither Dragons teams will be able to get in all 16 scheduled CRC regular-season contests. Both teams ended the regular season late Friday at home against league leaders Queen’s Grant before playing in the 8 seed versus 9 seed play-in games in the CRC tournament on Monday. Opponents and sites are yet to be determined, as are playing dates for the final three rounds of the event.