By Brian Pitts
Davie Enterprise Record

Cody Martin’s swagger is back.
The junior forward was downcast after scoring a pedestrian five points in the Davie boys basketball team’s 54-49 win over Smith. It was his lowest output in 25 games.
Needless to say, Cody was fired up for the next game against visiting West Rowan. Posting up time and again, he sparked an 87-51 wipeout with 28 points on 13-of-19 shooting. He added nine rebounds and two blocks to his seventh career 20-point effort. He had a 22-point night as a freshman and five 20-point games as a sophomore. But this was a career high by two points.
Cody was not satisfied. He went off for 27 as unbeaten Davie (6-0) ripped apart visiting Alexander Central 83-59.
Against West Rowan, Cody came out smoking, accounting for 12 of Davie’s 22 first-quarter points.
“I said I’m going to settle in and play my game,” he said. “Coach (Mike Absher) told me before we went out: ‘We’re going to put you in the post and see what we can do.’ He said nobody could stop me. We tried it and it seemed to work. They gave it to me and I’d dish it or score.”
Cody dropped in 10 points in the third, when Davie shot a blistering 13 of 18 as a team.
“We talked about it first thing Monday (after the Smith game),” Absher said. “We felt like tonight would be a good opportunity for him to bounce back. We talked about having a double-double. He was relentless in going to get the ball off the glass, and he was so patient in the post when he caught it. He didn’t try to do anything too fast. He just really showed how good he is.”
The War Eagles put on quite a show in the open court. Caleb was ahead of the pack on a fast break. Sensing Cody trailing, he slowed up and tossed the ball off the backboard. Cody soared in, caught the ball and dunked in one motion.
On another break, Austin Hatfield tossed an alley-oop to Caleb Martin, who slammed it home with one hand. Cody accelerated down the floor. He maneuvered around a defender and flushed while going full speed.
West coach Mike Gurley, whose rebuilding Falcons slumped to 0-4, could only watch in amazement as Caleb (18 points, five assists), Peyton Sell (13 points, 3-of-4 3-point shooting) and Austin Hatfield (12 points, four assists) helped Davie beat West for the sixth straight time.
“They’re really good,” Gurley said. “What I like is their starting five is on point as far as they know each other. You could tell they know how to play basketball – on top of physically being gifted. They are really good at running. They’re going to be wonderful in their conference, and they can make a serious run (in the playoffs).”
Kenyon Tatum had seven points. Taylor Hatfield had a season-low three points, yet he had a solid game with seven assists against no turnovers. It was his fourth straight outing with five-plus assists.
“That’s a great night for Taylor, especially against a quick and athletic team that pressed us basically the whole game,” Absher said …