South boys move on

Thu. February 23, 2012 at 12:31 a.m. | By James W. Houston

South Davidson’s Daniel Cook grabs a rebound against South Stokes during their second-round playoff game Wednesday night. (Photo by Donnie Roberts/The Dispatch)

DENTON | For South Davidson’s boys, the road to a 1-A state championship will leave the friendly confines of Denton on Friday.
But at least the Wildcats still have gas in the tank.

South overcame an early deficit and rolled to a 76-61 victory over visiting South Stokes in the second round of the 1-A playoffs Wednesday behind 35 points from a red-hot Taylor Hatfield.

The recipe was all too familiar. It seems lately that teams try to deliver the knockout punch to South Davidson’s boys early in the game, but the Wildcats find a way to fight back for the win. It was no different when the fourth seeded Wildcats hosted fifth seeded South Stokes. South saw the visitors build an eight-point lead midway through the opening period. The Wildcats clawed their way to take a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. South Stokes took their final lead on their first possession of the second quarter and then the Wildcats went on a scoring blitz, outscoring the Sauras 25-10 over the remainder of the second period and eventually won the game going away.

“We’ve had teams coming out and punch us in the month, but we don’t lose our cool,” said South Davidson coach Jim Young, whose team is now 24-5. “We don’t quit and we find ways to bounce back. They’re not intimidated. They (South Stokes) were a more athletic team than when we played Bishop McGuinness. They hit the boards hard, but we found a way to keep it under control. This is a good group of kids that don’t back down.

“We play Winston-Salem Prep in our next game, maybe the number one team in the state. I’ve said that North Rowan is a small college team. Well Prep is a big college team. But we want the challenge. It’s something we’ve worked for all season.”

The Wildcats travel Friday to Winston-Salem for the sectional championship. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Taylor Hatfield’s big night included six 3-pointer and a 9-for-10 effort from the foul line.

At the start of Wednesday’s game, it appeared that both baskets had lids on them as neither team could score. South Stokes scored first after nearly three minutes were gone off the clock. The Sauras went on to take leads of eight points on two occasions.

Then Taylor Hatfield found the mark twice from beyond the arc on back-to-back possessions, bringing his team back. The Wildcats went on to hold a one-point lead at the end of the quarter.

During their scoring burst in the second period Daniel Cook and Taylor Hatfield got hot, hitting 14-of-18 foul shots to help build a lead the Wildcats would never relinquish.

“They shoot the ball extremly well,” said South Stokes coach Jason Clark, whose team wraps up their season with a 16-12 record. “We made a couple of runs at them, but each time they would hit a big shot.

“South Davidson is a good team and we wish them luck the rest of the way.”

Cook and Collins added 15 points each and Austin Hatfield finished with 13 points.

Arron Hawks led the Sauras with 17 points followed by Withers with 10 points and Josh Wright with eight.