ASHEVILLE — The McDowell Titans pushed one step closer to a Mountain Athletic Conference championship Friday night as they held off the T.C. Roberson Rams 50-36 on the road in a low-scoring affair.
Third-ranked McDowell (7-0 MAC, 17-0 overall) remained perfect on the season and tied the 1995-96 squad for the second-best start in school history thanks to a strong contribution from three starters who placed in double figures.
Post Chavis Hamilton had another strong outing, leading McDowell with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Hamilton was also strong in the interior, blocking three shots.
His performance, combined with a double-figure game from guard Eli Miller (13 points, 3 assists, 2 steals) and 10 second-half points from Brandon Dockery (3 steals, 3 assists, 1 rebound), helped propel the Titans to a huge win on the Rams home court.
"It's always tough to play over here," said McDowell head coach Lloyd Church. "We played about as hard as we could over here. We talked about if we played hard and unselfish that we could make up for any mistakes and that's what we did. We played hard for 32 minutes and did good things in between. This is a hard place to play. I am very happy with the results."
The game featured only three lead changes. Roberson (2-5, 5-9) scored the opening five points of the game only to be answered by six unanswered by McDowell.
The Rams regained the lead one additional time at the end of the first quarter.
But the Titans opened the second quarter with six straight points to take an 11-8 lead on a pair of free throws by Hamilton with 4:48 left in the half.
Offense was at a premium for both squads in the first half. The Titans made only five field goals in the first half, but 8-of-10 shooting from the foul line helped push the Titans' lead to 19-13 at halftime.
McDowell kept a steady lead through the third quarter and the early moments of the fourth.
Roberson did have one last flurry. After a Hamilton basket made the score 33-25, the Rams answered with a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions from Tim McKeithan to pull the Rams within 33-31 with 5:10 left.
That would be as close as Roberson would get the rest of the way.Dockery answered for the Titans on the next possession with a 3-pointer from the corner. That shot sparked a 13-3 McDowell run over the next 3:20 to put the game away.
Dockery finished the run with two free throws at the 1:22 mark to push the Titans lead back to 12 points (46-34).
Tre' Young (6 rebounds, 2 assists) and Tyler Hopkins (7 rebounds, 4 assists) were the only other McDowell players to score in the contest with four points each.
Willy Pressley led Roberson with 11 points.
http://ncpreps.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1035934
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement