Unbeaten Chatham Charter placed three players in double figures and never trailed while outscoring Uwharrie Charter Academy every quarter as the Knights rolled to a 53-39 non-conference win over the Eagles Friday evening in Julia-Brent Milholen Gymnasium.
Jordan Hamilton turned in a double-double performance for the victors with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Baggio Rodriguez notched 13 points and Connor Murphy added a dozen as Chatham Charter raised its overall record to 4-0. The Knights shot 22-of-53 (42%) from the floor and held a 28-26 edge on the glass while only committing eight turnovers.
Losing to Chatham Charter for the second time in four days, Uwharrie Charter Academy fell to 0-2 for the season. Carson Brady registered a double-double with a game-high 19 points in addition to grabbing 10 boards for the Eagles, who connected on 14-of-41 (34%) of their field goal attempts while turning the ball over 15 times.
A pair of Murphy layups in the first three minutes of play sparked a 7-0 game-opening run by the Knights, who extended their lead to 12-4 following a Rodriguez trey from beyond the top of the key with 2:54 left in the initial frame before Uwharrie Charter Academy trimmed the margin to four by closing out the quarter with Max Denamur’s pull-up jumper from the left wing and two Elijah Glover charity tosses.
After Chatham Charter rebuilt its advantage to eight (21-13) on Murphy’s fast break layup with 5:02 remaining in the second period, the Eagles rallied to pull within 25-24 on Brady’s three-pointer from the right wing with 2:14 to go until halftime prior to the Knights using a pair of Kolby Riddle free throws, Cole Milholen’s fast break layup and a bank shot in the lane by Hamilton to stretch their lead to seven at the break.
Uwharrie Charter Academy cut its deficit to five on three occasions in the third stanza before the winners fashioned a 7-3 spurt over the last 3:50 of the quarter to expand their advantage to 42-33 heading into the fourth period.
The Eagles could never pull closer than eight in the final frame, the last time at 47-39 following Brady’s fast break layup with 4:44 to play, prior to Chatham Charter ending the contest with a 6-0 run, climaxed by Hamilton’s drive off the left baseline with 58.8 seconds showing on the clock that gave the Knights their biggest lead in the game.