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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

The Ellis boys basketball team had no groove against visiting North Davie, but the Jaguars survived an upset scare, 46-40, on Nov. 14.
Two days earlier, they unsurprisingly whipped Selma Burke, 59-34, on the road.
Peyton Fishel (14 points on 7-of-10 shooting, eight rebounds), Graham Weaver (10 points, 10 rebounds), Jordan Crowley (eight points) and Bowman Blakley (eight points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals) allowed Ellis to add to its blowout streak. Crowley went 4 for 4 from the floor and Cam James yanked down 10 boards.
“Peyton probably had his best or second-best game,” coach Roger Blalock said. “Graham did as well. It was a straight up big man’s game.”
Ellis 46, North 40
Ellis played with fire when it hosted North Davie on Nov. 14. Ellis went to halftime with a slim 25-22 lead and North surged to a 36-34 lead at the end of the third.
The Jaguars dominated the fourth, 12-4, but the overall performance was no masterpiece, according to Blalock.
“We did not shoot the ball well. We had way too many turnovers. We did not play defense worth a lick. Nobody grabbed a defensive rebound. We gave them wide-open 3s. We could not get the ball to go in the basket. We did not run our sets right.”
The unbeaten Jaguars (7-0) came in outscoring opponents 55-32 on average, and their closest win before this was 14 points.
“I told Caleb (Davis, the North coach) he coached them well,” Blalock said. “I told my team I got outcoached. I put it on myself. I should have prepared them better.”
Mason Driver and Henry Migliarese paced Ellis with 12 points each, with Migliarese doubling his previous scoring high. Blakley and James contributed 6 each.
North’s Nolan Allen, who came in averaging a county-high 23.8 points per game, was held to a season-low 10. But the Wildcats (2-4) still took Ellis to the limit as Jeremiah Hernandez scored a season-high 10 and Wade Ridenhour nine. Davis said his boys played their guts out.
“Our guys played so well,” he said. “A few missed opportunities and 50-50 balls and calls were the difference. It was a great game.
“Ellis is a well-coached team that has an endless supply of size. They only committed two fouls the entire game, so that’s nothing more than a testament to their fundamentals on the defensive end.
“If we convert a few more layups and I do a better job at maximizing our adjustment opportunities, this one could have gone the other way.”
Davis beamed at Hernandez.
“The scoring load was spread around, but Jeremiah was a sparkplug for us again,” he said.
For Ellis, Crowley came up with clutch fourth-quarter defense to help the Jags beat North for the seventh time in eight meetings.
“In the last couple minutes, Jordan played some lockdown defense,” he said.
Moor 56, South 37
South Davie was only down by five at halftime, but it faded in the third and suffered its worst loss of the season on Nov. 12 at Mooresville.
Dreighton Lunnerman had a team-high 13 points. Wyatt Tucker had seven, while Ty Cozart and Anderson Branham had six each.
South 50, Burke 45
The Tigers halted a three-game slide and pulled out a thriller against visiting Selma Burke on Nov. 14.
This one could not have been any tighter. The Bears led 8-7 at the end of the first. It was 22-22 at halftime. Burke led 34-33 at the end of the third. South emerged victorious despite going 5 of 16 from the free-throw line in the fourth.
The win was keyed by Cozart (13), who had his biggest scoring day in seven games; Colson Dulin (12), who delivered his most points in four games; and Branham, who produced a season-high nine.
Ellis 59, Selma Burke 34 – Peyton Fishel 14, Graham Weaver 10, Jordan Crowley 8, Bowman Blakley 8, Henry Migliarese 6, Blake Allen 3, Mason Driver 3, Wade Hefner 3, Ben Bost 2, Cam James 2.

Ellis 46 – Mason Driver 12, Henry Migliarese 12, Bowman Blakley 6, Cam James 6, Peyton Fishel 4, Graham Weaver 3, Jordan Crowley 3.
N. Davie 40 – Nolan Allen 10, Jeremiah Hernandez 10, Wade Ridenhour 9, Levi Morales 4, Glen Greene 4, Tannyr Carrier 3.

Mooresville 56, S. Davie 37 – Dreighton Lunnerman 13, Wyatt Tucker 7, Ty Cozart 6, Anderson Branham 6, Colson Dulin 2, Jared Vaughters 2, Malachi Miller 1.
S. Davie 50, Selma Burke 45 – Ty Cozart 13, Colson Dulin 12, Anderson Branham 9, Jared Vaughters 7, Dreighton Lunnerman 4, James Martin 3, Malachi Miller 2.