NORWOOD — One of the most successful seasons in recent history, in terms on wins, came to an end last Tuesday night for East Wilkes in the first round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 1A boys basketball playoffs.
South Stanly used a balanced attack to advance to the second round with a 66-50 win against the Cardinals.
The No. 7 Rowdy Rebel Bulls, who were eliminated by No. 21 Mountain Island Charter (55-52) on Friday night, put four players in double figures; each of the six players to score finished with at least eight points.
Cohen Whitley, who paced South Stanly (23-5) with 14 points, put the hosts ahead by as many as 18 with a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals would trim the lead to as little as 12 (54-42) with less than four minutes to play on an Andrew Tharpe basket.
The Rowdy Rebel Bulls, however, put the game on ice as it scored their final 14 points from the free-throw line, where it finished 24-of-31 for the game.
Despite the double-digit loss in its first playoff game since the 2015-16 season, East Wilkes (10-15) held its own with the Yadkin Valley 1A/2A Conference champions early on.
The No. 26 Cardinals led 16-15 early in the second quarter on a Seth Lambert putback, but then dealt with a pair of scoreless spells that lasted close to three minutes each.
No team led by more than three until the 2:41 mark of the second.
That’s when South Stanly used an 8-2 run to build the lead as many as eight at 27-19 on the Drew Gaddy basket.
East Wilkes’ shooting struggles continued as it mustered just one field goal — a tough basket and foul from Tharpe — for the entire third quarter.
Brady Hall, who joined Tharpe as the Cardinals’ top scorer with 10 points each, did his best to pull the Cardinals close in the fourth with back-to-back three-point plays.
Lambert and Mason Sparks added seven points apiece.
In addition to Whitley, Gaddy and Gavyn Miller added 13 and 12 points, respectively, and Jaxon Valler rounded out the double-digits scorers with 10.
#7 South Stanly 66, #26 East Wilkes 50
East Wilkes 10 11 5 24 — 50
South Stanly 12 15 17 22 — 66
EAST WILKES: Owen Combs 1 0-0 3; Mason Sparks 3 1-3 7; Brady Hall 3 4-4 10; Payton Luffman 1 0-0 2; Phoenix Blackburn 3 0-1 6; Reece Dobbins 1 0-0 2; Hayden Phillips 1 0-0 3; Andrew Tharpe 4 2-3 10; Seth Lambert 3 1-2 7; Logan Brown 0 0-0 0; Reid West 0 0-0 0; Levi Sadler 0 0-2 0. Team Totals: 20 8-13 50.
SOUTH STANLY: Cohen Whitley 3 6-6 14; Drew Gaddy 2 9-10 13; Jaxon Valler 5 0-0 10; Gavyn Miller 3 3-6 12; Keith Murphy 4 1-3 9; Carter Callicutt 0 0-0 0; Ethan Gaddy 1 5-6 8. Team Totals: 19 24-31.
THREE-POINTERS: East Wilkes: Combs, Phillips. South Stanly: Whitley 2, Miller, Gaddy.
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