Jeff Linville | The News
Senior Austin Handy holds a photograph of himself driving to the hoop while being introduced with his family. Each of the seniors received a framed photograph on Senior Night.
Jeff Linville | The News
Jacob Snow walks out to center court with his parents before the varsity girls game Tuesday.
Jeff Linville | The News
Forward Grayson Vernon sports a new mohawk hairstyle as he takes the floor with his family.
Jeff Linville | The News
Senior Austin France asked his Grandpa Johnny to walk out with him for the introduction.
North Surry trailed by eight points to start the fourth quarter, but rallied for a 49-45 win over East Surry on Senior Night.
In a back-and-forth game, the Cardinals won the first and third quarters, but the Greyhounds took the second and fourth periods.
North scored the first bucket of the game, but East center Seth Brim scored twice. Then Scott Meredith, in his first game back from an injury, scored a free throw, a two-point basket and a pair of three-balls to lift the Cards to a 13-5 lead.
In the second quarter, seniors Jacob Snow and Klay Newsome hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead to 13-11.
Fellow seniors Grayson Vernon and Austin Handy also scored as the Greyhounds pulled ahead 19-17.
Drew Alley put the Cards back up with a three-pointer, but Handy answered with one of his own to make it 22-20.
After a pair of Brim free throws, Snow hit another three to lift North to a 25-22 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, it was East Surry’s turn to hit a barrage of long bombs as Drew Alley hit three of them to spark the Cards to a 41-33 lead at the end of the quarter.
Vernon and Handy opened the fourth with three-pointers, then Snow hit a two that tied the game at 41-all.
Eli Gilbert and Meredith each scored to give the Cards a 45-41 lead, but East wouldn’t score again.
Newsome scored to cut the lead to two, then Handy nailed a three to give the home team the lead at 46-45.
East Surry lost the ball as the time went under a minute left. Then the Cards were forced to foul.
Marcus Sawyers split his two foul shots for a 47-45 lead.
Scott Meredith got himself free for a good look, but the shot was just a little off, said Coach Jason Anderson. That’s the second time the Cards have missed a big shot at the end in a week, he noted.
East Surry had an open three-pointer to beat Bishop last Tuesday, but it bounced away.
East was forced to foul, and Grayson Vernon made two for the final 49-45 margin.
It was a big night for the seniors, who scored all but one of the 49 points.
Handy and Vernon each hit three three-pointers and led the team with 13 points. Newsome didn’t score in the first, but had 10 the rest of the way. Snow hit two three-pointers in the second quarter, including the last shot of the half to put North ahead 25-22.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the way they played,” North Coach Travis Gammons said of his seniors. “It was a collective effort.”
“Handy had a very good night, all of them did,” he said. “Klay has been playing well lately.”
It was a good team effort on the glass, too, he said. “It was a major point of emphasis before the game to limit them to one shot.”
In addition to the seniors, Gammons noted that sophomore Caleb Hobernicht had a huge block to shift momentum, and it was junior Marcus Sawyers coming up with a big steal in the final minute.
For East Surry, Meredith led the team with 17 points and Alley had 12, going 4-7 from downtown. Brim had all six points in the first half. Carson Long scored four points off the bench in the third quarter.
Gilbert, Tyler Pardue and Austin Johnson scored two each.
Brim led the Cards with 11 rebounds and four blocked shots, and he also took a charge. Pardue, a power forward, led the team with three assists in the passing game.
The guys committed 24 turnovers in this game, Anderson said bluntly.
“We were lucky to even be in it at the end,” he said. Still, after Newsome’s basket, the Cards held a 45-43 lead with 1:45 left and couldn’t hold it, he pointed out.
“I don’t know if it’s because of not playing Friday,” he said of the turnovers, “but that’s something we haven’t done all season long.”
For North Surry, Gammons had been saying the past couple of weeks that his team was improving. Still, the Hounds were just 2-10 in the Northwest Conference following close losses to South Stokes and North Stokes.
Since then, the Hounds have won three of four, beating Surry Central and Bishop before East Surry.
North Surry finished conference play 5-11 and is locked in as the seventh seed. The team will play at West Stokes (18-5, 13-2 NW), which is locked as the second seed behind 15-0 Winston-Salem Prep.
East Surry will hold its Senior Night Friday against Mount Airy.
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