The Ellis boys basketball team was hoping to build off its win over South Davie, but the Jaguars didn’t have an answer for Iverson King – not many teams have – and host North Davie pulled away to a 57-38 victory on Jan. 17.

“This was a hard-fought game,” North coach Trevor Gooch said. “Hats off to coach (Ted) Boger and his team for playing hard.”

An exciting first quarter ended with North in front 14-13. Brodie Smith, Parker Aderhold and Justin Hayes buried 3-pointers early to spark the Jaguars.

It didn’t last. Davin Whitaker and King dropped in seven points each in the second, when North climbed to a 30-22 halftime lead. Ellis did not seriously threaten in the second half.

King (27 points) continued his extraordinary play as North (9-1) won its fifth straight and posted its best record through 10 games in its 26-year history as a middle school. It was the seventh 20-point game for King, who was one shy of his season high.

“Iverson had an outstanding game offensively and defensively,” Gooch said. “In the fourth quarter, he had a Lebron James-like block against the glass, which gave our team a lot of momentum down the stretch.”

Boger, the Ellis coach, said: “Iverson carries North. He is probably the best eighth grader in the county overall.”

Whitaker nailed three triples to score 12 points, his third straight game in double figures. Zeb Pilcher had four, Jackson Sink four, Connor Keaton three, Ty Miller three, Hunter Davis two and MJ Jacobs two.

“Davin hit three 3-point jumpers in the first half to ignite our team and the home crowd,” Gooch said.

For the Jaguars (3-6), Hayes had 13 points, William Purvis 11, Smith five, Aderhold five, Jacob Terpenning two and Ty Matthews two.

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Missing its top two scorers, South Davie didn’t have the firepower to overcome host Wesleyan Christian Academy on Jan. 22. Hayden Williams (11.6 ppg) and RJ Jordan (11.3) were sidelined as the Tigers fell 51-43.

Williams was sick. Jordan will miss the rest of the season. Yet, South made it a game thanks to impressive performances from Joey Nardone and Jordan Dickerson and effective 3-point shooting.

The Trojans held leads of 16-13, 25-18 and 39-30 after the first three quarters. “I was thinking we could get blown out,” coach Germain Mayfield said.

Enter Nardone, who scored a season-high 16 points. Dickerson also had a season high with 11. Dickerson popped three 3s, while two teammates added two each as South (6-5) outscored Wesleyan 21-9 from beyond the arc.

“Joey is highly skilled, but he doesn’t realize it yet,” Mayfield said of the post player who played center for the football team. “He could have scored like that all year.

“Jordan can be dynamite. He’s talented. He just hasn’t learned the game yet.”

Coleman Lawhon (eight points) and Burke Rosenbaum (six) hit two 3s each. Levi Miller had two points.