Red Raiders outlast rival Bison
Jan. 8—HIGH POINT — T.W. Andrews moved another step in the right direction against rival High Point Central.
The Red Raiders surged late in the second quarter to lead into halftime, led by double digits in the second half and held on down the stretch to beat the Bison 55-47 in nonconference boys basketball Saturday afternoon in Andrews' Foree Gymnasium.
In the girls game, Andrews cruised to a 57-4 victory.
"This is huge for our team, huge for the program," Red Raiders boys coach Irvin Turner said. "I told the seniors before the game: 'How do you want to go out against Central? This is your last game against Central, and it's one you can always talk about. ... This is the one that matters — they're playing good and we're playing good. But the guys played really well."
CJ Pate scored 31 points to lead Andrews (4-9), which won for the third time in its last four games and won back-to-back for the first time this season. Devin Hackstall added eight points, while Sultan Divens had seven points as the Red Raiders split the season series with the Bison after a close loss a month ago.
"We played great as a defensive team," Pate said. "We held them to 13 in the first half. We were very active as a team — give everyone credit."
The Red Raiders, forcing turnovers and misses on defense while getting to the basket on offense, scored the final 11 points of the second quarter to lead 21-13 at halftime. Andrews, which shot 48% from the field for the game while limiting Central to 25%, then added seven straight to start the third to lead by 15.
The Red Raiders led by 17 in the fourth before Central rallied hard to pull within single digits inside the final two minutes. The Bison got within seven three times before inching within six with seven seconds left. But Andrews hit seven of eight free throws during the final 41 seconds to hang on.
"We came together and talked as a team," Pate said. "We finished it out — hit clutch free throws. It felt good to have that lead coming from halftime."
Colin Burgess scored 16 points to lead Central (4-8), which played well to start — building a handful of four-point leads during the first half — but trailed off near halftime and had to play catch-up the rest of the way. Jacob Williams followed with 14 points while Adonai Tyrance chipped in nine points
"We came out flat in the first half and woke up in the fourth quarter," Bison coach Josh Prince said. "You can't come out flat in the first half. Back-to-back games are tough — we played last night in a tough game."
Journie Barr scored 13 points to pace Andrews (10-2), which led 32-2 at halftime. Janiya Milligan added 11 points while Sanai Johnson added five points to give the Lady Raiders another solid win over their crosstown rivals. Saykritt Mortimore and Nevaeh Dukes each scored for Central (0-12).
"We're coming along," Andrews coach John Shearin said. "There are always going to be things that you need to work on. We're certainly not a finished work of art, but we're on the canvas and have some paint down. So, we're just making sure that we fine tune some things."
Both teams will return to conference play Tuesday. The Red Raiders will visit West Stokes in Mid-State 2A Conference action. The Bison will host Rockingham County in Mid-State 3A Conference play.
mlindsay@hpenews.com — @HPEmichael
