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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

The Davie varsity boys basketball team, which snagged a signature win over Mt. Tabor on Friday, is starting to fulfill coach Josh Pittman’s vision.
“I think we’re finally starting to believe that we are a really good team when we play the way we’re supposed to play, we’re disciplined and we follow the scout and the game plan,” he said after Davie retained a share of first place in the CPC and knocked Tabor into a tie for third. “They’re starting to understand that we can beat and compete with anybody.”
Davie won three of four games between Dec. 27-Jan. 3. The first three were in the eight-team Sheetz Holiday Christmas Classic at Southwest Guilford.
SWG 70, Davie 68
In the first round of the tournament, Pittman was mad as you-know-what about a timeout that was granted to Southwest Guilford, and then he watched his team suffer a bitter loss.
The Cowboys had a 67-65 lead with 25 seconds remaining. They mishandled a pass right as the official granted the coach a timeout.
“I thought we got dealt a bad hand with the timeout,” Pittman said. “The refs are human and they make mistakes just like everybody else. That was at a tough moment when we had just made a shot. But we looked at the film and we learned from it.”
While Southwest improved to 5-3 with its fourth straight win, Davie’s four-game winning streak was halted.
The game was close from start to finish. The second defeat of the season spoiled a career night for Elliott Erlandsson, who played like a man possessed. He scored 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting and blocked two shots. Before this outburst – the most points by a War Eagle all season – Erlandsson’s season high was 11 and his three-year varsity high was 15.
What’s more, this was the beginning of a nice development. After averaging 7.3 points in the first eight games, the 6-5 senior has averaged 14 in the last four.
“Elliott has been playing really good basketball,” Pittman said. “It clicked for him when I started (Isaac) Swisher a couple of games. It clicked that he needed to lock in and focus. It just had to click, and here lately, he’s been playing lights out. He texts me every day asking what he can do to get better. I just love the way he’s playing- the energy, he’s playing hard, he’s playing aggressive, with confidence. He makes us a better team.”
Bryson Mickey also played a starring role with 19 points. Jackson Powers had 12 points and eight rebounds. Ethan Driver had four points and six assists. Cam Owens did not score, but he handed out six assists.
The Cowboys were blown out in the semifinals, losing 97-66 to Wesleyan Christian Academy.
Davie 50, Olympic 38
After enduring Southwest’s 58-percent shooting, the War Eagles got back to their defensive form in the two consolation rounds.
Olympic entered with a sporty 10-1 record, but it retreated in the fourth quarter as Davie overcame a 12-7 deficit in the first and 3-for-20 shooting from 3-point range.
Davie outscored the Trojans 16-6 in the fourth and won going away. Erlandsson made his presence known again with a team-high 13 points to go with five rebounds. Driver (12 points, six rebounds) and Powers (11 points) also cracked double figures. Asher Tolbert contributed eight points, while Mickey racked up six points, 10 assists, four rebounds and four steals.
Davie 64, W. Guilford 40
Western Guilford was 8-3 heading into the final day of the tournament, but the Hornets found themselves on the wrong end of a butt-whooping.
The War Eagles came out with their hair on fire, bursting to a 23-10 lead while draining five 3s. Driver, Erlandsson and Tolbert keyed the quick start.
The Hornets sliced a 34-15 halftime deficit to 44-35 at the end of the third, but Davie closed with authority as six different War Eagles scored during a 20-5 run in the fourth.
The winning side placed three scorers in double figures: Driver (15 points, five steals, four assists), Tolbert (14 points, eight rebounds) and Erlandsson (10 points, seven rebounds). Mickey dished out 10 assists for the second game in a row. The 2-1 tournament showing lifted Davie’s record to 9-2.
“The two wins we got were against good teams and teams that were similar (to Mt. Tabor and West Forsyth),” Pittman said. “All in all, I thought it was a great tournament and it was some great competition. Our nonconference schedule was a lot tougher than it was in previous years.”
Davie 63, Tabor 59
The War Eagles faced a sticky test in the CPC when they hosted Mt. Tabor on Jan. 3. The Spartans smacked West Forsyth 71-51 in the Frank Spencer final, rolled up 101 points in the next game and carried a five-game winning streak to Mocksville.
But the War Eagles delivered the kind of performance that Pittman was hoping for. They kept their composure and poise throughout and succeeded with a total team effort. Four guys scored at least nine; six guys scored at least six. That is Pittman’s secret sauce.
“Every so often you’re going to have a guy branch out and get more (points), but when you’ve got four (in or close to double figures), it’s hard to deal with,” he said. “Like I always say, a good team can beat a good individual. Tabor is a really good team, but I think we’re a good team, too, and I think we showed that tonight.”
Although Snook Peterkin and Tabor raced to a 14-5 lead in the first quarter, the War Eagles didn’t blink. Seven guys – Powers, Erlandsson, Landon King, Adam Brown, Tolbert, Swisher and Mickey – sank baskets during a 26-11 run that forced Tabor to play catch-up the rest of the night. After Peterkin, a spectacular athlete who has signed a football scholarship with Virginia Tech, scored seven effortless points in the first quarter, he managed just six over the last 24 minutes.
“On a team that averages (67) points, we’ve got to slow down the leading scorer,” Pittman said. “I told them if we can keep Snook under 20, we would be in great shape. I was upset because he had seven in the first quarter. But then after that, we slowed him down a lot. We had to have low turnovers, we had to communicate and our defensive IQ had to be on point. Meaning, if (Peterkin) has the ball or if anybody is penetrating, we’ve got to be in good help, we’ve got to dig on the ball and we’ve got to be active. And we did a heck of a job, especially from the second quarter on.”
And then: “I know (Peterkin’s) had a couple of 30-point games. I watched the Frank Spencer game (against West Forsyth) and he had 33 of their 71. In my opinion, you can’t play ‘Mt. Tabor basketball’ against Mt. Tabor. Bryson did a heck of a job handling the pace.”
Driver hit perhaps the game’s biggest shot. After Tabor rallied within 33-30, the junior wing nailed a triple. Then King fed Driver for another 3. Powers took a pass from Mickey and drilled a 3. At that point, Davie was in command at 45-34.
A Tabor mini-run pulled the Spartans within 56-49. Davie stayed in control by getting two free throws from Mickey and a 17-footer from Driver. When Erlandsson hit a free throw at 2:35 in the fourth, Davie was cruising at 61-49.
“I thought in our zone we should have been a little more active, but it can’t be perfect all the time; the other team plays, too,” Pittman said. “But on the whole, we did a really good job of listening, playing for each other and taking care of the ball.”
The Spartans’ last gasp saw them convert a pair of 3-balls to close the gap to 61-55 at 1:40. Davie wasn’t great at the line, but it hit enough foul shots – 6 of 10 in the fourth – to salt it away.
“The only thing I was upset about was the unnecessary gambling at times, where we would gamble and they’d make us pay for it with a 3 in the corner – when we didn’t have to because they were already struggling against our zone,” Pittman said.
It was pretty much a drama-free win because Davie continued to play as a team. Driver came through with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. Powers had a typical line: 12 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks. He only attempted six shots but made four of them. Erlandsson had an economical 11 on 4-of-5 shooting. Mickey’s moxie as the floor general against Tabor’s fullcourt pressure – he had four assists to one turnover, not to mention nine points – was significant. Give credit to King (seven points) and Tolbert (six points, five rebounds, two assists).
“I like to shoot rhythm 3s,” Pittman said of Davie’s 7-for-18 performance from long range. “I tell them: ‘If you’re shooting a 3 off of one pass, you better be wide open.’ Because we make rhythm 3s a lot more and we look a lot better when we’re making those.”
Notes: The CPC race is wide open. Davie and West entered the week 3-0, with Tabor and Reynolds tied at 2-1. “I think it’s an even league,” Pittman said. “On any given night, somebody can beat you. So we’ve got to keep two feet grounded and go game by game.” … Davie improved to 10-2 overall, while Tabor slipped to 8-3. … Driver, who averaged 4.8 points in the first seven games, has found a groove. His scoring has jumped to 12.6 the last five games. … Tabor lost despite hitting 7 of 15 3s. … Owens has missed the last three games with a wrist injury. … Davie’s top four scorers are Powers (10.1), Mickey (10), Erlandsson (9.5) and Driver (8).
SW Guilford 70, Davie 68 – Elliott Erlandsson 22, Bryson Mickey 19, Jackson Powers 12, Landon King 5, Ethan Driver 4, Asher Tolbert 3, Isaac Swisher 3.
Davie 50, Olympic 38 – Elliott Erlandsson 13, Ethan Driver 12, Jackson Powers 11, Asher Tolbert 8, Bryson Mickey 6.
Davie 64, W. Guilford 40 – Ethan Driver 15, Asher Tolbert 14, Elliott Erlandsson 10, Draeton Nance 7, Isaac Swisher 6, Jackson Powers 5, Noah Dulin 4, Bryson Mickey 3.
Davie 63, Tabor 59 – Ethan Driver 14, Jackson Powers 12, Elliott Erlandsson 11, Bryson Mickey 9, Landon King 7, Asher Tolbert 6, Adam Brown 2, Isaac Swisher 2.