Freshman sparks boys in opener

Published 9:24 am Friday, November 29, 2019

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If you don’t know the name Iverson King, get to know it. In the Davie varsity boys basketball team’s season opener at West Wilkes on Nov. 19, it was as if King entered the court through saloon doors.

In the early stages of the first quarter, it was King 6, Blackhawks 0.

The freshman’s remarkable poise sparked a 57-47 win. The 18th-year Davie coach was delighted after hauling three seniors, one junior, four sophomores and two freshmen to Millers Creek to take on a seasoned opponent and leaving with a decisive victory.

“To take such a young group up there in a good environment, I was pleasantly surprised,” Mike Absher said. “It was a packed house. They’ve got a bunch of seniors and they’ve got high expectations for this year. To put our guys in that situation right off the bat and win, I was really, really, really pleased.”

From the opening tip, King showed why he started in his high school debut. His three-point play and 3-pointer got Davie rolling.

“He couldn’t have started it out any better,” Absher said. “And he was big from the line in the fourth quarter. You’re just not sure how a kid like that is going to respond, but I’ll tell you what, he showed a level of toughness that was pretty special for a freshman.”

Williams, the lone junior for a team that was missing around five players from the football team, took the spotlight in the second quarter. He was responsible for 10 of Davie’s 12 points in the second, lifting Davie to a 28-22 halftime lead. Two of his four field goals were 3s.

“Luke was tough all night,” Absher said. “He was huge in the second quarter. That helped open up the halftime lead to six.”

The War Eagles pulled away in the third, with seven guys contributing 18 points. They led by as many as 14. King and Brooks Johnson salted it away by going 4-4 and 3-5 from the free-throw line, respectively, in the fourth.

Williams hit three triples and led with 14 points. Johnson had 13 points, King 12, Jayden Spillman eight, James Reid five, Matt James three and Blake Walser two.

Johnson’s performance was what Absher had envisioned for the third-year varsity player. The senior played all but 30 seconds.

“Brooks probably had seven or eight assists,” Absher said. “And he was really, really good on defense.”

Spillman, a sophomore who earned a start, and Reid were difference-makers in the paint.

“Jayden got thrown to the wolves right off the get-go, and he played really solid,” he said. “James played really tough, too. I’m sure he had six or seven rebounds.”

West is a 2-A team that went 13-11 last year.