Freshman boys basketball thunders to 7-0

Published 8:57 am Thursday, January 27, 2022

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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

The Davie freshman boys basketball express thundered to another wipeout win on Jan. 15, beating Watauga 70-41 at home in the third game in three days. The span saw Mike Dinkins’ unbeaten War Eagles win by 19, 28 and 29 points.
You knew it was over immediately. Cameron Owens, Wade Bomar, Connor Hood, Landon Waller and Elliot Erlandsson handled the offense as Davie hammered out a 26-6 lead in the first quarter.
“We hurt them on the defensive end,” Dinkins said. “We got easy transition baskets. Changing defenses the way we do kept them offbalance. We’ll trap your butt all over. In the past three games, I’m sure we’re getting over a third of our points off our defense.”
Owens continued his magic, scoring 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter. He racked up 67 points in three days, an offensive binge no one could have predicted.
During his three-year career at North Davie, Owens scored a total of 34 points. On Jan. 4 for Davie, he was averaging 9.7. Then came an absolutely incredible transformation, the little guy now leading the team with a 15.1 average.
“He’s on a tear, isn’t he?” Dinkins said after Owens went 5 of 5 at the free-throw line and hit two 3-pointers. “He knows the game. He knows what needs to be done. He broke a Glenn player down with his crossover (on Jan. 14) and the kid fell down.”
Davie displayed fabulous balance while growing the lead to 45-19 at halftime and to 56-30 in the third. Hood (14), Erlandsson (13, two 3s), Bomar (11, three 3s) and Waller (11) gave Davie five double-figure scorers.
“Connor had an excellent game on both ends,” Dinkins said. “I’ve been on him about his free throws and he was 4 for 4 in the first quarter. He had several nice passes. We put him at the top of three of our traps, and he’s so athletic a lot of times he either gets his hands on the ball when they try to throw it over his head or he makes them throw it away.
“I would say Landon had a double-double (in points and rebounds). Elliot and Connor had around eight rebounds each.”
Dinkins said the team chemistry is something special.
“We had some great interior passes for easy baskets,” he said. “One time all five players touched the ball and we got a two-foot shot out of it. Our secondary break has been awfully good to us.”
The point guards – Owens, Hood and Bomar – are extensions of the coach on the floor.
“We put a lot of pressure on our point guards,” he said. “I’ve told them all year: ‘You call it. If I call something and the point guard calls something else, you run what the point guard calls.’ That has worked real well for us. There were at least four times that Wade or Cameron called something and they ran what they called.”
The 7-0 season has been a dream.
“The wheels may come off at any time, but as far as them wanting to be in the gym and wanting to work and get better … it’s such a fun team to coach,” he said.
Notes: Josiah Johnson and Zachary Hill had one point each. … The Nos. 2-4 scorers are Erlandsson (10.8), Hood (10.1) and Bomar (7.8).