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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

The 48-41 win over Central Davidson wasn’t the best performance Josh Pittman has seen in his three seasons as the Davie varsity boys basketball coach – evidence being that Davie shot 31 percent from the floor.
Call it the opposite of beautiful. Still, it did enough to improve to 4-1 in the final tune-up before CPC play.
“These little scrappy teams keep clogging the lane,” Pittman said. “Until the rim opens up for us, I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss.”
N. Guilford 72, Davie 35
Two days before hosting Central, the War Eagles laid a big ol’ egg against visiting Northern Guilford.
The Nighthawks entered 0-3, but it was a record with an asterisk: They were missing football guys during the rocky start. N. Guilford’s football team lost 55-0 to Weddington in the third round on Nov. 29, and it was at full strength when it made the trip to Mocksville.
“They picked up five players (from football), and two of them were starters,” Pittman said. “I didn’t have four of them on the scout because they hadn’t played.”
Pittman tried every combination and nothing worked. Davie shot 14 of 57, including 3 of 25 on 3-pointers, and faced deficits of 16-3 after the first quarter, 27-12 at halftime and 49-20 at the end of the third quarter.
While Davie shot 24 percent overall and suffered its worst loss since 70-30 to Mt. Tabor in January of 2023, the Nighthawks went berserk (25 of 44 for 56 percent). Davie’s leading scorers were Elliott Erlandsson and Asher Tolbert with eight points each.
“It was a nice dose of humble pie for us, that’s for sure,” Pittman said.
Davie 48, C. Davidson 41
The War Eagles had some more shaky moments, more offensive hiccups, in the first half against visiting Central Davidson on Dec. 6. But they got their stuff together in the third quarter and held on.
“At halftime, I had to do what you do in that little room,” Pittman said of the talk at intermission. “But they came out and reacted well. As long as I’m getting reactions, I’m happy.”
When Central scored the first bucket of the third quarter, the War Eagles found themselves down 20-16. Then they spent the rest of the third throwing daggers.
Bryson Mickey found Jackson Powers for a 3-pointer. Landon King spotted Cam Owens on the left wing, and Owens knocked down the triple. The next time down, Owens spotted up in the left corner. Mickey gave him the ball and he drilled another 3. Tolbert scored on a fast break. Mickey outhustled a Spartan to a loose ball in the backcourt. He dished to Tolbert, who hit Erlandsson for a layup. Ethan Driver got a steal and threw ahead to Mickey, who laid it in at the buzzer. Erlandsson mixed in 4-for-4 foul shooting.
Pittman breathed a sigh of relief during the 20-4 run that created a 36-24 gap. Central could not recover.
“We were energetic,” he said. “The bench was involved and engaged. We had to get out of the rut from the (Northern Guilford) loss because it weighed on us. I could tell it was a little heavy and we played timid at the beginning of the game. We had open looks and didn’t want to take them.”
Owens, who was averaging five points a game, came out of nowhere to pace Davie with a season-high 12 to go with three steals.
“Cam can do a lot of good things,” Pittman said. “In the first half, he had three or four shots that he wouldn’t take. Once he took them … I said: ‘We’ve got to quit hesitating and take the shots. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? We win or we lose and we’re going to be able to come back and work harder tomorrow. We’re playing like we have too much pressure.’”
Mickey had 11 points and five assists. Erlandsson went 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to finish with a season-high 11. Powers had five points and eight rebounds. Tolbert had five points.
“I didn’t start (Erlandsson in the second half) because I wanted a reaction,” Pittman said. “I’ve watched a lot of good coaches and I’m aspiring to be a good coach.”
Notes: Central (1-3) was a stubborn squad after losing to Davie by 22 on Nov. 29. “They’re a well-coached team,” Pittman said. “I’ve known (Dustin) Tysinger for seven-plus years, so I know they’re going to come to play.” … Davie won despite shooting 31 percent (15 of 48). “We’ve got to keep getting better and tighten up on everything,” he said.
N. Guilford 72, Davie 35 – Elliott Erlandsson 8, Asher Tolbert 8, Jackson Powers 6, Cam Owens 5, Ethan Driver 2, George Sakai 2, Isaac Swisher 2, Landon King 2.
Davie 48, C. Davidson 41 – Cam Owens 12, Bryson Mickey 11, Elliott Erlandsson 11, Jackson Powers 5, Asher Tolbert 5, Landon King 2, Ethan Driver 1, Isaac Swisher 1.