Hickory boys to battle Alex Central for Classic title

The Hickory High boys have won 15 titles in the Catawba Valley Classic’s 24-year history.

On Wednesday night, the Red Tornadoes left little doubt they would be vying for No. 16.

Jalen Byrd scored 24 points, Zach Jarrett added 14, and top-seeded Hickory put St. Stephens in a quick 15-point hole it could never climb out to cruise to an 83-47 semifinal win at Hickory.

The Red Tornadoes (10-2) will meet third-seeded Alexander Central (8-3) in the title game on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at Catawba Valley Community College.

The fifth-seeded Indians (9-4) meet seventh-seeded South Caldwell (4-6) for third place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at CVCC.

Hickory raced to a 15-0 lead 6 1/2 minutes into the game and was never threatened, as the Red Tornadoes’ smothering man-to-man defense had St. Stephens out of sync from the start.

Hickory limited the Indians to 32.6 percent shooting from the floor and forced 24 turnovers that were converted into 31 points.

The Red Tornadoes led 33-19 at halftime and they were up 59-33 after three quarters.

 “We talked about defensive pressure and contesting every shot,” said Hickory head coach Shawn Johnson. “We did that and we rebounded the ball well in the first quarter.

“Tonight we did a good job, once we turned them over, of kicking the ball ahead and sharing the ball.

“I was pleased with how we were able to get (the ball) out quick and turn (the turnovers) into points.”

While they were busy shutting down the Indians’ offense, the Red Tornadoes were efficient with their possessions, hitting 50.8 of their shots with just 10 turnovers (four in the first half).

The Red Tornadoes also owned the edge on free throws, hitting just as many shots (22) as St. Stephens attempted.

Zach Bumgarner’s 16 points led the Indians.

ALEXANDER CENTRAL 70, SOUTH CALDWELL 35

Alexander Central will be competing for its first Classic title after also jumping out to a fast start and never looking back in a semifinal at Hickory.

Tyler Crouch scored all of his 15 points in a first half that saw the Cougars lead 17-6 after the opening quarter.

Alexander Central led 34-17 at the half.

Twenty-four of Alexander Central’s first-half points and 12 of its 14 field goals came in the paint.

The Cougars finished at a 52.2 percent from the field while limiting the Spartans to 29.8 shooting.

 “We got off to a good start and got some easy baskets, but we didn’t really do anything special. We just played,” said Alexander Central head coach Ed Wills. “I thought we did a nice job of keeping them off the boards and we were pretty good at doing that at both ends.

“We have some good size, and when we get to the boards we can be tough.”

Hampering South Caldwell’s cause was the loss of junior forward Jordyn Propst. A night after scoring 17 points in a first-round win over Fred T. Foard, he finished with two points after going down with a leg injury midway through the second quarter and failing to return.

Matt Mohon added 10 points off the bench for the Cougars, while Conner Drum’s eight points led the Spartans, who meet St. Stephens for third place.

FRED T. FOARD 38, MAIDEN 37

Joe Isenhour wasn’t the game’s high scorer nor was he Fred T. Foard’s leading scorer, but his lone point of the night came at the right time.

With the consolation game at Hickory High tied at 37 and 2.1 seconds on the clock, the Tigers had the ball under their basket. Isenhour took the inbounds pass and was fouled by Matt Johnson as time expired.

Needing to make just one of two free throw attempts to get second-seeded Fred T. Foard a win, Isenhour delivered by hitting the first free throw.

The victory moved Foard (9-3) into the fifth place game on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. against Newton-Conover at CVCC.

Isenhour’s free throw was a fitting end to a game that had many twists and turns.

Foard started hot, making five of its first eight shots, and led 13-2 with 3:05 left in the first quarter.

Trailing 15-5 with 5:20 left in the half, Maiden (3-6) put together a 12-2 run to pull even at 17 on two free throws by Jalen Gibbs with 7:21 left in the third quarter.

Two possessions later, the Tigers regained the lead and held it until the final 4:42. There were five lead changes and one tie the rest of the way.

With 2.1 seconds to play, the Blue Devils took the ball out from under the Tigers’ basket. But Johnson’s inbounds pass hit the rafters, setting up Foard with the ball and a chance to win.

Gibbs led Maiden with eight points and Spencer Matthews led the Tigers with eight.

NEWTON-CONOVER 51, BUNKER HILL 36

Joshuwell McCombs scored a game-high 13 points, all in the second half, to lead No. 4 seed Newton-Conover past eighth-seeded Bunker Hill in a consolation game at Hickory.

The Red Devils face Fred T. Foard in a fifth-place game Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at CVCC.

Newton-Conover (7-4) got off to a quick by hitting six of its first eight shots. With six players scoring, the Red Devils went up 13-0 when Bunker Hill (1-10) had two turnovers and missed its first five shots.

The Bears stayed within seven of the Red Devils at the half.

Neither team was able to take control in the early parts of the third quarter until Newton-Conover scored nine unanswered points, capped by a bucket by McCombs, to lead 34-22 with 2:13 left in the third quarter. McCombs had five of those nine points.

From that point, Bunker Hill got no closer than nine points and the Red Devils’ lead stayed 10 or more in the final eight minutes.

Newton-Conover shot 51.8 percent (14-of-27) in the second half.

Jordan McGinnis led Bunker Hill with 11 points.

Record Sports Correspondent W.D. Fisher contributed to this article.