What happened to West Forsyth's three-game winning streak?
Nate happened.
Nate Jones, Davie County's combustible shooting guard, doused West with 27 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter and scorched a path for the War Eagles' 79-64 Central Piedmont 4-A win last night.
Davie held a shaky 51-48 lead early in the fourth quarter when Jones, who has been slumping lately, drove for a layup, drew a foul, and hit the free throw for a 54-48 lead.
It was the beginning of a "Nate Run" — he outscored West 15-0 over several minutes, burying two 3-pointers in the process — and by the time he made two free throws with 3:20 remaining, Davie led 66-48 and was on its way.
"We played man, we played zone and matched up with him," coach Mike Pennington of West said. "We threw the whole kitchen sink at him.
"He is a great player and he is as good a guard as we have played against the last couple of years."
"He really is."
Davie, coming off a humbling loss at North Davidson, improved to 14-5 overall and 3-3 in the CPC, pulling into a tie with West, which fell to 9-11, 3-3.
Sophomore Cody Martin finished with 18 points for Davie and Kenyon Tatum added 12, but Jones stole the show.
He made 9 of 16 shots from the floor, hit 18 of 19 of his free-throw attempts and grabbed eight rebounds.
Jones, 5-foot-11, played until the buzzer. He intercepted West's final inbound pass near halfcourt and threw down a two-handed dunk in the final second.
"The greatest thing was we hit (Jones) in transition and we haven't been doing that lately," Absher said.
"He was running the floor, catching on the right wing and those are tough shots to defend — and he can make them."
The Titans had a shot to take the lead early in the fourth quarter, but while trailing 49-48, John Massengill missed a layup and Alex McCalister missed a follow-dunk attempt.
Martin answered with a basket for Davie, then Jones' explosion started.
Shannon Dillard, Davie's 6-4 post player struggled at both ends of the court with the 6-7 McCalister, and when Dillard picked up his third foul three minutes into the second half, Absher put the War Eagles into a 2-3 zone defense that they rode the rest of the way.
"You would think that would put us in a great situation," Pennington said. "We were trying to get the ball in to Alex and they don't have a bunch of size.
"I think Davie stepped up a little bit and we may have relaxed."
Absher said West was attacking Davie's 1-2-2 zone successfully, but he never put Dillard back in the game after taking him out.
"We took him out to be honest to keep him out of foul trouble," Absher said of Dillard. "But we went to the 2-3, then defensively it shut them down and we got a bunch of stops in a row.
"That's the key — we had a bunch in a row."
Sophomore Teion Waller scored 16 to lead West, Massengill added 12, and Carl Tyson and McCalister scored 10 each.
"I think we got the big head," Pennington said. "We won three in a row, we started to get a little attention and you know, the shoes (a gift from West alumni Chris Paul) are starting to get attention.
"We told them Davie's backs were against the wall and they would come out and play.
"And they did."
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