Hungry Mount Tabor fed off the energy of its packed home gym and hammered rival Reagan 75-51 in a key Central Piedmont 4-A boys showdown Friday night.
With Lepreece Lynch pouring in 21 points and Deion Robinson scoring 18, the Spartans got off to a soaring start and pounded away as the Raiders' top two players each picked up three first-half fouls.
Mount Tabor (14-8) maintained a one game lead over Davie County and stayed alone in first place in the CPC at 6-2. Reagan, which already had two close losses to the Spartans, lost a chance to tie for first and slipped to 12-9 overall and 4-4 in the CPC.
"Our guys came to play tonight," coach Andy Muse of Mount Tabor said. "We had energy, and they knew what was on the line, and we know that in the Central Piedmont you have to win your home games. Great crowd tonight, our sixth man really helped us out, and our man-to-man defense was the best it's been all season."
The Spartans, playing in front of a standing-room-only crowd, came out firing and raced to a 10-0 lead. Evan Peatross stemmed the bleeding for Reagan with a 3-pointer a little more than three minutes into the game.
By that time, Braeshaun Dozier, Reagan's top scorer, had two fouls. Caleb Anthony picked up his second minutes later, and the Spartans' lead grew to 18-8 by the end of the first quarter.
Things got worse quickly for the Raiders.
The Spartans led by as many as 20 in the first half and by as many as 31 in the third quarter before the Raiders found some cohesion to the finish.
"I guess we got caught up in the crowd and the emotions of the game, and that's all I can think of," coach Howard West of Reagan said. "They got off to a great start, they got happy, they got satisfied, and they got real confident about what they could do and couldn't do."
The taller and stronger Spartans pounded the Raiders 41-22 on the boards and outscored them 15-6 on second-chance baskets.
"The big key in our games is always rebounding," West said. "If we don't at least hold our own and get somewhere close, we are very limited in what we can do."
Lynch, who scored 13 in the second half, was pivotal as the Spartans put the game out of reach in the third quarter. He scored 10 points in less than 90 seconds, including 3-pointers from the right wing on consecutive possessions, as the lead grew to 48-22.
Reagan made its first two 3-point attempts, but its problem was finding open looks. In spite of its deficit, Reagan only attempted 10 3's for the game, making four.
None of the Raiders scored in double figures, and Dozier led the way with eight points.
"We controlled the boards tonight, and they hit multiple 3's in each of the first two games," Muse said. "We didn't want to trade 3's for 2's tonight. Lepreece Lynch shot the ball well, and TreQuan Lewis (12 points) gave us great minutes and was the glue for us tonight."
Tyquan Bitting finished with 12 rebounds and scored seven points for Mount Tabor, which can clinch the title next week with wins at North Davidson and home against West Forsyth.
Reagan can pull away from the crowd next week with home wins against Davie and Reynolds.
"I thought my kids, there was a chance for us to get beat by 40," West said. "But they hung in there and did the best they could and got it to 20, 19, but if we had rolled over and played dead, it could have been 40, 45.
"This is not going to help us, but at least we got something good out of it in the second half."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement