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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Davie’s varsity boys basketball team surrendered 21 unanswered points, watched Alexander Central score the last six of the game and lost 59-53 in Taylorsville on Nov. 30.
That’s the bad part. The good: The War Eagles responded with back-to-back wins as they played three nonconference games in four days.
Davie-Alexander Central was a game of outrageous runs. It was 12-12 before Davie scored 19 of the next 22 points to take a 31-15 lead. Then came the Cougars’ 21-0 run, which left Davie in a 36-31 deficit. They extended the run to 29-3 to put Davie in a 44-34 hole.
“They played a really good game,” coach Bruce Wallace said of AC. “They’re good – don’t get me wrong – but what killed us at the end of the day was we had to play so many funky lineups because Alex (Summers) and Jake (Powers) were both out and Blake (Walser) was out the first quarter. They scored eight points on out-of-bounds plays. We just had guys in positions they had never played before.”
Wallace could take solace in the fact Davie overrode the 44-34 deficit and seized the lead, albeit briefly. A 16-5 spurt lifted Davie in front 50-49. But Alexander closed Davie out by hitting six straight free throws after it was 53-all.
Za’Haree Maddox (19 points) and Coleman Lawhon (12) were clutch in the fourth, the duo scoring all 16 Davie points in the last eight minutes. Lawhon made four of Davie’s seven 3-pointers. Zymere Hudson had 13 points, Walser four, Jackson Powers three and Tate Carney two.
The free-throw line was the deciding factor. While AC (1-1) went 17-24 from the stripe, Davie (1-1) only attempted three foul shots.
Davie 56, S. Iredell 48
South Iredell defeated Alexander Central by three, but the Vikings couldn’t handle a Davie team that welcomed back Jake Powers on Dec. 1.
Hudson, Maddox and Jake Powers set the tone in a 16-7 first quarter, and the War Eagles had little trouble gaining the road win.
“They play man-to-man against everyone from what I’ve seen, but they couldn’t guard us man-to-man,” Wallace said. “They changed to a zone. They try to run but we’re really good at running. We may not see a man-to-man defense all year.”
Maddox (16 points) and Hudson (15) scored right around their averages, and Jake Powers provided a spark with 11. Davie got six from Walser, three each from Carney and Lawhon and two from Landon King.
“Jake makes us 10-15 points better,” Wallace said. “We beat Alexander Central with Jake. We got outrebounded by Alexander Central and Jake might be our best rebounder. He played the whole game except the last minute.”
Hayden Williams’ long road back was finally completed as he entered the game in the fourth quarter. He missed his entire freshman year with an injury, and another injury forced the sophomore guard to miss the first two games this season.
South fell to 1-2.
Davie 59, C. Davidson 38
The War Eagles made one gorgeous pass after another in a dominant win in the home opener Dec. 3. Hudson was seemingly always the beneficiary of those passes.
“That’s because he’s a really good cutter,” Wallace said of Hudson, who scored 20 points for the second time in four games. “He knows where to go. He knows how to space the floor and he cuts at the right time.”
The War Eagles were behind 8-6 before they dropped eight straight points on the Spartans. Maddox penetrated and made a no-look pass to Hudson for a layup. Jake Powers controlled an offensive rebound and converted an amazing scoop shot under the basket. A possession saw the ball move from Lawhon to Jake Powers to Hudson, who scored underneath. Then a Maddox steal resulted in a breakaway layup.
Later, Davie scored seven straight as Maddox hit a floater, Walser scored on a drive and Jake Powers scored on a putback to give Davie a 21-10 lead.
Carney had his fingerprints all over the next great stretch for Davie. He had eight points and two assists in a 12-3 run. Carney’s steal led to two successful free throws. He grabbed a rebound and hit Hudson on the fast break. He buried a 3. He fed Jackson Powers for a short jumper. He drove, was fouled and scored to put Davie ahead 33-15. Central never recovered.
“Every game except Alexander Central, there’s been a stretch in the game where something really good happens with him,” Wallace said of Carney. “He’ll hit a 3, he’ll run the floor and he’ll get a bucket.”
Hudson did his damage on 9-of-13 shooting, and he added four assists and four steals. After scoring five points across three games, Jackson Powers scored 11 on 4-of-6 shooting. Maddox had 10 points and three steals. Carney had eight points and three assists. Jake Powers had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists. And Walser had two points, seven rebounds and three assists as Davie improved to 3-1.
Jackson Powers’ first significant offensive performance included a crowd-pleasing 3.
“I’m glad he was able to step into a 3 and make one,” Wallace said of the 6-5, 235-pound freshman. “He’s a really good shooter. He’s just a good basketball player.”
Notes: Central dropped to 2-2 after winning its previous two games. … Although Davie missed 20 of 24 3-pointers against Central, it shot 61 percent on two-point shots (21-34). … Solid defense allowed Davie to attempt 22 more shots than Central, which went 15 of 36 from the floor.