DOBSON — The Northwest 1A/2A Conference basketball schedule may be a tattered shred of its former self, but Thursday’s Mount Airy-Surry Central boys matchup made it clear the fire is still intact.

Golden Eagle senior Dave Wilmoth hit a clutch 3-pointer from the right side with 1:52 remaining to give his team a 53-51 lead it would never look back from but fought hard to protect.

Mount Airy had its chances down the stretch, but committed turnovers on its next three possessions, including a crucial 5-second out of bounds call.

Central hit three of its next four free throws and had a 56-53 lead with 14 seconds left and Mount Airy with the ball.

Granite Bears sharp shooter Wade Moody had a crack at tying the game but missed short, only to have teammate Justin Collier pull down the rebound and get fouled with 2.6 seconds remaining.

Collier hit the first free throw and was then instructed by coach Kevin Spainhour to “shoot high” and purposely miss in an effort to give the Bears a chance at a last second tip in.

And Collier did just exactly that, missing perfectly, with the rebound going to Phillip Gwyn who shot from point blank range.

Hearts were no doubt in the throats of all Surry Central faithful as the ball hit every inch of the rim but failed to fall through to give Surry Central its first win over the Granite Bears in several years, 56-54.

Surry Central coach Ken Eiswald said he was unsure how Gwyn’s shot failed to fall, but that maybe the raucous Surry Central crowd willed it out of the net. One thing Eiswald was certain of was that it was an important win for the Golden Eagle program.

“I haven’t beaten Mount Airy since I’ve been here and this is the first year we’ve beat North Surry since I’ve been here,” Eiswald said. “There are a lot of barriers this school has had a hard time overcoming. It’s great teams other teams have had, but it’s a mental thing where you have to believe that you can beat them. The other night against West Stokes we got into the same late game situation where we didn’t believe we were going to win it, but tonight our guys kind of just willed it. It’s a huge win especially over a program like Mount Airy, as good a coached team as they are, with good kids and great ballplayers. It really means a lot to us.”

Dave Wilmoth wasn’t the only star Wilmoth of the night, as cousin Ethan poured in a game-high 27 points to lead the way for Eiswald’s squad. Wilmoth caused problems for the Bears inside the lane with his size and ability to make his own shot.

The Granite Bears jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter and held an 18-14 lead heading into the second period.

But Surry Central responded with intensity to finish the first half on a 14-3 run, capped by a last second 3-pointer from Dave Wilmoth to give the Eagles a 32-23 halftime advantage.

Mount Airy started the second half on a 6-0 run to cut back into Central’s lead setting up a back-and-forth second half.

Spainhour said he wasn’t displeased with his team’s performance, but that the Bears didn’t execute when the game was on the line.

“Give Surry Central credit, they made plays when they had to make plays, it was just a very good high school basketball game,” Spainhour said. “I really liked our energy at the end of the game and what can you say about that. Justin Collier has matured before our eyes this year and tonight he was just excellent. He shot a perfect miss. We had a chance, if it goes in, we’re still playing. I thought obviously a big play was 51-50 and they hit a 3-pointer. That was a big one and we didn’t respond. When we get in that situation, we are really looking to ride Wade a lot and I thought Central did a good job of limiting his driving at the end and even his touches. The out of bounds play was critical. We ran the same play we’ve been running all year long and I made an adjustment and looking back I probably shouldn’t have done that, I should have stuck with what we knew.”

But while both teams had their flaws and left it all on the court, it was the Eagles who could enjoy the aftermath.

Surry Central 56, Mount Airy 54

MA — 18 5 17 14 — 54

SC — 14 18 15 9 — 56

Mount Airy — Justin Collier 19, Wade Moody 15, Miller 8, Hamilton 4, Cawley 3, Joyce 3, Gwyn 2

Surry Central — Ethan Wilmoth 27, Dave Wilmoth 12, Levesque 8, McLamb 4, Hudson 3, Lewis 2

Mount Airy girls burn Eagles

DOBSON — After leading Surry Central 10-6 at the end of the first quarter, the Mount Airy girls turned up the heat.

The Granite Bears scorched Central for 28 second-quarter points, on the way to a lopsided 73-37 win.

Mount Airy’s Ellie Case led all scores with 21 points in the win, followed by Taylor Hiatt with 13, Brittany Webster with 13 and Jordan Hiatt with 10.

The win sets up the Bears’ matchup with Bishop McGuinness tonight for the regular season title, winner take all.

It was the Golden Eagles senior night, and while the departing Central seniors did not finish their final home game with a win, coach Mandy Holt said she was still high on her team’s drive.

“I am very proud of how my seniors and my entire team stepped up,” Holt said. “We started out with a game plan and played hard and things were clicking, and I was very happy with that. In the second quarter, we started to get out of the game plan and run with them a little bit and they were trying to force the tempo, which we had talked about. But as far as effort goes, I was very excited about our effort.”

From the Mount Airy side, coach Howard Mayo gave credit to Central for a slow start, but that once the Bears get out and running, he has confidence in their abilities.

“A little sluggish start,” Mayo said. “Surry Central deserves some credit for that, they had some pride on senior night and played hard, we just didn’t have the game going to our pace, but when we do have the game going to our pace, we are a pretty good basketball team. If we want to go out and compete tomorrow night, we had to come over here and take care of business. I thought the kids deserve the credit for that. We were focused, I really liked the way we finished.”

Mount Airy 73, Surry Central 37

MA — 10 28 18 17 — 73

SC — 6 8 11 12 — 37

Mount Airy — Ellie Case 21, Taylor Hiatt 13, Brittany Webster 13, Jordan Hiatt 10, Leonard 6, Williams 5, Hamilton 4, K.T. Jones 1

Surry Central — Brittany Tolbert 10, Marshall 9, Joyner 3, White 3, Chavez 2, Coe 2, Hegler 2, Howlett 2, Wall 1