Dragons rally for second straight win

Tue. February 07, 2012 at 11:35 p.m. | By Mike Duprez

THOMASVILLE | West Davidson and East Davidson spent much of the night at the free throw line, which was cause for one coach to smile and the other to grimace.

Freshman center Nolan Benson led a balanced attack with 17 points as the Dragons rallied in the fourth quarter to beat East 67-62 on Tuesday for their second straight Central Carolina Conference win.

“We’ve got one more Friday,” said West coach Russ Snyder. “Every one from here on out is big. We’re just going to keep going and get after it.”

They got after it well enough from the free throw line Friday, going a respectable 26-for-41. Benson himself was 13-for-16.
On the other hand, East was a miserable 11-for-27.

“We were God awful from the free throw line,” said East coach Matt Jacobs. “That and uncontested layups. If you can’t make free throws and defend layups, what’s the point of doing this at all?”

The Dragons (5-14 overall, 3-6 CCC) attacked the rim all night and boxed out on the boards. The biggest one came at the 1:29 mark with the score tied 60-60. Benson got inside position on East center Taylor Booze, who went over the back and drew his fifth foul. That sent Booze and his game-high 23 points to the bench. Benson hit one of the free throws, giving West the lead for good.
Braxton Shetley missed a 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession and the Dragons held on.

“We were very fortunate to get a win,” Snyder said. “East is very scrappy and Booze had a really good game tonight.”

Jacobs felt his star player should have got the ball in the post on that crucial play rather than having to go after a missed shot.

“We take a stupid shot instead of going to Booze in the first place,” Jacobs said. “They couldn’t do anything with him all night.”

East carried a 47-41 lead into the fourth quarter. It was tight through all four quarters, with neither team managing a double-digit lead.

Austin Teague had 14 points for West while Zach Queen had 11, Taylor Beck nine and Tyler Grooms eight.

Austin Miller scored 12 points for East (5-16 overall, 1-8 CCC) and Blake Loman added nine.

Mike Duprez can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 218 or mike.duprez@the-dispatch.com.