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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Ethan Driver lightning struck in the first round of the 4-A playoffs, and thus Davie’s varsity boys basketball team overrode a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter and beat visiting South Mecklenburg 69-66 on Feb. 25.
Driver went nuclear with Davie’s back against the wall, scoring 14 during a 16-5 run. It was glorious.
“Ethan took over the game and put us on his back,” coach Josh Pittman said. “He put forth an epic performance.”
Senior point guard Bryson Mickey, who had missed all of one game and virtually all of another with an ankle injury, gave Davie a boost when he checked in less than four minutes into the game. He immediately drilled a 3 to get Davie on the board after the Sabres scored the first six points.
“He’s our biggest presence, and his presence makes defenses adjust,” Pittman said. “I don’t even think they knew he was hurt because the coach got mad as soon as he made his first 3. I heard him over there yelling: ‘I told you he was the shooter.’I started laughing. I just hate that he doesn’t have more offers right now other than Dean (College).”
The War Eagles converted 7 of 10 free throws in the last 2:33 of the second quarter and carried a 32-29 lead to halftime. Early in the third, Draeton Nance assisted an Elliott Erlandsson bucket and Davie was in control at 34-29.
“We were terrible shooting in the first half, but our defense was good to hold them to 29 points,” Pittman said.
But the Sabres flipped the game, ripping off a 27-12 run to take a 56-46 lead with 7:02 remaining and prompting a timeout from Pittman.
“I said: ‘We’ve got to attack when we have the opportunity to attack and when we get a mismatch. But most importantly, we’ve got to get stops and we’ve got to go one possession at a time,’” he said.
Driver had a quiet first half, but man did he turn it on with his team in trouble. He scored – deep breath – 14 points in a span of 3:43. He drove and banked in an improbable shot as he was fouled. After Nance turned a South turnover into two points, Driver sank a 3-pointer from the left wing. He stole a pass, sped downcourt and scored as he was fouled. He missed the free throw, but Landon King wrestled away the rebound and found Driver at the top of the key. The 3-ball splashed. Nance was triple-teamed on the low right block. He was able to squeeze a pass through traffic to the left wing to Driver, who buried the 3 to give Davie a 62-61 lead at 2:45.
Driver, who came in averaging 8.2 points with a season high of 18, finished with a varsity career high 22 on 6-of-11 shooting that included 3 of 4 from 3-point range. As if that wasn’t enough, he pulled down seven rebounds and made three steals.
“Ethan just smiles and says: ‘Hey, I was on,’” Pittman said. “And he goes about his business. It’s funny because he kind of reminds me of myself when I played. I was just never the super hype kind to jump up and down. I just stayed in the moment and stayed even (keel), and that’s what I see in him. He’s really turned on these last five or six games. He’s locked in at practice, and it shows.”
Davie still had work to do in the closing minutes. Erlandsson made two at the line to tie it at 64. Jackson Powers hit 3 of 4 foul shots to provide a 67-66 lead. After South committed a turnover at :22, Mickey split a pair from the line for a 68-66 lead at :19. South missed a 3 and fouled Powers at :02. He hit one of two for the game’s final point. South missed a 3-point prayer at the buzzer as Davie closed the game on a 23-10 run.
“We’re one of those streaky teams,” Pittman said. “If the rim opens for one of us, it starts to open for all of us. We made big plays at the right time.”
Notes: Powers was really banged up after this one. He had already been dealing with a toe injury, and he turned his ankle in the fourth. He still battled his way to 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals. “And he’s still dealing with the toe,” Pittman said. “All I could do was hold my head. I feel bad for him. I hate that Jackson and Bryson are going through so much pain in their senior years.” … There were 13 lead changes and 10 ties. … Davie got important contributions from Nance (9 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Mickey (7 points) and Noah Dulin (4 points, 6 rebounds). … Davie, seeded 14th in the West Region, advanced to the second round for the second year in a row. The No. 19 Sabres finished 17-11. … The CPC went 5-0 in the first round. Reagan won 69-57 over Northern Guilford, East Forsyth won 86-60 over Olympic, Mt. Tabor won 69-55 over Grimsley and West Forsyth won 77-70 over Marvin Ridge.
North Meck 90, Davie 50
The War Eagles got off to a fast start in the second round at North Mecklenburg on Feb. 28, but they would soon crash in a blowout loss to the third-seeded Vikings.
The War Eagles had a 13-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but North demolished their momentum in the second quarter. Pittman had a sinking feeling with the score 32-23 North at intermission.
“We played a really good first quarter,” he said. “We were able to manage turnovers.
“I was kind of worried at halftime because I knew they were getting in a rhythm. Playing in that gym, that little gym, where these kids can basically take two steps to halfcourt, it’s to their advantage because they can grab the ball and cover space at a high clip.”
The Vikings did whatever they wanted in the second half. It was 64-33 at the end of the third and North was on its way to a 26-3 record.
“There wasn’t too much we could do,” Pittman said.
Powers (season-high 19 points) and Driver (18) held up their end of the bargain. No one else, though, had more than four. Driver went off the last five games, scoring 13, 17, 14, 22 and 18.
Although the War Eagles went down with a whimper, it was another year of achievement. They’ve gone 17-9, 22-5 and 18-9 under Pittman. Now he’s ready to get out of the second round.
“We’ll come back and start working in April,” Pittman said. “The goal this offseason is to get stronger and faster. I’m not really too concerned about the basketball part. With us being as young as we’ll be next year, I want us to focus on building strength and working on our footwork and speed. We’ll have all fall to lock in on the basketball part. I feel like it’ll be essential for us to get stronger and be able to keep up the pace with teams like that moving forward. We’ve gotten to the point where we can battle teams around in this area. But let’s take that next step.”
Notes: West Forsyth, which outlasted South Caldwell 54-47 in overtime, is the last CPC team standing. Reagan lost 74-53 to Myers Park, East Forsyth lost 75-70 to Weddington and Tabor lost 80-77 in OT to Watauga. … Three seniors led Davie’s balanced scoring for the season: Erlandsson 10.2, Powers 9.6 and Mickey 9.1. Driver, a junior, was fourth at 9.0. Freshmen Nance and Dulin both averaged 7.0 in 11 games. … A memorable career came to an end at North Meck. Powers had 1,075 career points, good for ninth place in Davie’s 69-year history.
Davie 69, S. Meck 66 – Ethan Driver 22, Jackson Powers 14, Draeton Nance 9, Bryson Mickey 7, Elliott Erlandsson 6, Cam Owens 4, Noah Dulin 4, Landon King 3.