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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Josiah Spillman was dominant in the paint, and South Davie’s boys basketball team led wire to wire for a payback victory, 53-47, over visiting Wesleyan Christian Academy Jan. 20.
The Tigers, who lost 39-37 to the Trojans on Dec. 7, improved to 6-4. They seized the early momentum as Dallas Simms, Jayce Bentley, Spillman and Noah Dulin fueled a 20-10 first quarter.
The Trojans punched back in the second quarter, and South’s halftime lead was 24-21.
Then Spillman took over. He scored nine of South’s 15 in the third, resulting in a 39-33 advantage. He finished with 19, giving him at least 11 in seven of his nine games.
“When Josiah shows up like he did and we can get the ball to him, he’s hard to stop in there,” coach Germain Mayfield said. “We were going to him in the third. He was everywhere. He got on the floor after three or four balls. He probably had four or five blocks. He had a game. He gets more than 19 if he doesn’t foul out with almost three minutes to go.”
Although Spillman picked up his fifth foul with the game still undecided, 3-pointers by Dulin, Bentley and Simms kept Wesleyan an arm’s length away. Simms provided 11 points, Bentley 10, Dulin 7, AJ Imes 4 and Jayden Warren 2.
“Every time they would make a little run, we’d make a 3,” Mayfield said. “We were finally able to finish one off.”
Notes: Owing mostly to COVID, the season has been frustrating at times for the Tigers. Dulin has missed four games. Warren has missed three. Brayden Kistner, Bentley and Imes have missed two each. South won despite not having Kistner and Brady Everhardt in this one. “If we could ever get 14 together – we were missing a starter (Kistner) and a sixth man (Everhardt) today – we may not have but one or two losses on our record,” Mayfield said. …
For the season, Spillman is averaging 13.8, followed by Imes (10.5), Bentley (7.8) and Simms (6.6). … Simms is peaking. After averaging 4.2 in the first five games, he has averaged 9 over the last five.