Southern Durham’s Jayvis Harvey poured in 22 points, including four three-pointers, while teammate Ricky Council chipped in 11 before being ejected just before halftime as the Spartans took control of the contest early in the second quarter prior to pulling away down the stretch to collar a 70-58 triumph over Northwood in the Big Eight 3A Conference opener for both squads Thursday evening in Lewis Norwood Gymnasium.
Defeating the Chargers for the 11th straight time, Southern Durham improved to 3-1 for the season while Northwood fell to 2-2 overall.
The victors connected on 25-of-55 (45%) of their field goal attempts and held a 29-23 rebounding advantage while committing 11 turnovers.
Deuce Powell notched 15 points and Aaron Ross finished with 10 for the Chargers, who shot 23-of-46 (50%) from the floor while turning the ball over 17 times.
The opening period featured seven lead changes, with neither team enjoying more than a three-point advantage, before the quarter ended with the Spartans on top 18-15.
Following a pair of Alex Snively foul shots that pulled Northwood even at 18-all with 5:32 left in the second stanza, Council’s put-back in the paint one minute later gave Southern Durham the lead for good, and the Spartans went on to increase their advantage to 32-24 on Council’s two-handed slam dunk with 24.6 seconds remaining until intermission.
But Council was given a technical foul for hanging on the rim and was tossed from the game for using profanity at the officials.
Ross then dropped in a pair of free throws to draw the Chargers within six prior to Southern Durham countering with Daquonye Parrish’s fast break layup with eight-tenths of a second on the clock to send the Spartans into the break with an eight-point lead.
Northwood trimmed the margin to three on two occasions in the third period, the last time at 38-35 following a Ross foul shot with 5:05 left in the frame, before Lamar Lightbrown’s trey from the right corner followed by his drive off the right baseline helped push Southern Durham’s advantage to 48-41 by the end of the quarter.
The Spartans forged their biggest lead at 60-46 following a Jashaun Hawkins rebound bucket off the right baseline with 2:51 remaining in the contest before the Chargers crept within 63-56 on Tommy Ocariza’s three-pointer from the right wing with 1:25 to play.
But Southern Durham was quick to restore a double-digit advantage 18 seconds later and coasted to the win.
SD 18 16 14 22 – 70
NOR 15 11 15 17 – 58
Southern Durham (3-1, 1-0) – Lightbrown 4 0-3 9 Wilkerson 1 0-0 2 Harvey 6 6-9 22 Council 5 1-1 11 Person 2 1-2 6 Hawkins 1 1-2 3 Hall 2 4-7 8 Parrish 3 0-0 6 Webb 0 0-0 0 Hamilton 1 1-2 3. Totals 25 14-26 70.
Northwood (2-2, 0-1) – Powell 7 1-6 15 Thompson 2 0-0 4 McAfee 3 0-2 7 Ross 3 4-6 10 Snively 1 2-3 4 Brower 2 0-0 4 Omar 0 0-0 0 Mehringer 0 0-0 0 Shadoan 2 0-0 6 Ocariza 3 0-0 8 Arnold 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 7-17 58.
Halftime-Southern Durham, 34-26. Three-point goals-Southern Durham 6-22 (Harvey 4-8, Lightbrown 1-2, Person 1-3, Hawkins 0-1, Council 0-1, Webb 0-1, Wilkerson 0-2, Parrish 0-2, Hamilton 0-2); Northwood 5-15 (Shadoan 2-2, Ocariza 2-3, McAfee 1-2, Powell 0-2, Ross 0-2, Omar 0-2, Snively 0-2). Fouled out-McAfee. Technical foul-Council. Ejected-Council. Rebounds-Southern Durham 29 (Harvey 9); Northwood 23 (Powell 9). Turnovers-Southern Durham 11; Northwood 17. Total fouls-Southern Durham 13; Northwood 20.