On a special stage, Northwestern edges Rock Hill

Only a few moments after Lance Crayton’s buzzer-beating 3 rimmed out Monday at Time Warner Cable Arena, members of the Los Angeles Lakers were on the court commencing their pregame shoot-around.

It might have been just another Monday for the pros; it was anything but for the high school basketball players from Rock Hill High and Northwestern, who got to play on the same honeycombed deck as the Hornets and Lakers.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience to play out there in front of all these fans on an NBA court,” said Rock Hill’s Crayton. “It was a great experience.”

It would have been better for Crayton had his desperation 3 that caromed off the backboard fell through, instead of spinning around and out. The miss sealed a 70-67 comeback win for the Trojans and their L.A. Lakers fanatic coach, John Bramlett.

The game’s pace never settled below frantic. That was consistent with the excitement the players battled to control the whole couple of hours they spent in uniform.

“I never played in a big arena like that before,” said Northwestern’s Myliek Durham. “We tried to get a feeling for it in warm-ups, but it was a big adjustment with the length and width.”

Rock Hill led 31-28 at the end of a scrappy first half. Northwestern pressed full court after scoring and Rock Hill was amenable to an up-and-down pace. Japree Perry scored after nicking the ball away from a Trojan, before Thailand Adams rejected a Northwestern lay-up attempt, leading to points at the other end for the Bearcats. Andrew Barber’s steal and lay up pushed the Rock Hill lead to 16-6.

“We were very sluggish at the beginning, but they came out with a lot of energy and punched us in the mouth a little bit,” said Bramlett. “I think some of our sluggishness was they had energy and we didn’t.”

A fortuitous banked 3 from Northwestern freshman Deydrion Dareef sparked the Trojans on a 9-0 run and the rest of the first half was close with the Bearcats’ lead never more than four points. The second half was much of the same until the Trojans capitalized on Rock Hill foul trouble to produce a late, game-winning run.

“Great experience for the kids, a chance for them to play in this type of atmosphere is something they’ll never forget,” said Rock Hill coach Eric Rollings, who was principally behind the idea of playing at Time Warner Cable Arena. “Luckily, this is a non-region game.”

Turning point

A 14-3 run late in the fourth quarter put Northwestern in front for good. Zay Martin and Durham combined for nine of the 14 points with Martin’s bucket and Cory Hardin-McCoy’s weakside tip-in pushing the Trojans’ lead to 65-56. Northwestern was able to hold off Rock Hill’s comeback, including six quick points from Perry.

Critical

Foul trouble was a decisive problem for Rock Hill. All of Rock Hill’s big guys finished with at least four fouls, including Perry. On most nights he would have been the best player on the floor and he still finished with 17 points despite missing most of the third quarter. He picked up his fourth foul about 20 seconds into the second half, parking the big guy on the bench until the fourth.

“Foul trouble cost us some things we wanted to do in the first half,” said Rollings. “We wanted to pressure a little bit more but we couldn’t.”

Star contributions

Crayton led all scorers with 22 points and combined with Barber to score over half of the Bearcats’ points. Durham led Northwestern with 16, Jaquarius Clowney added 15 and freshman Zay Martin scored 12, including two crucial free throws late in the game.

On deck

Both teams return to Region 3-4A action next week. Rock Hill plays Nation Ford Jan. 6, while Northwestern faces York Jan. 5.

Box score

Northwestern 70, Rock Hill 67

Northwestern;15;13;18;24- 70

Rock Hill;17;14;16;20- 67

Scoring

Northwestern: Gianni Cabrera-Gonzalez 7, Desmond Walls 6, Daydrion Dareef 3, Myliek Durham 16, Jaquarius Clowney 15, Cory Hardin-McCoy 8, Zay Martin 12, Hamary Traore 3. Rock Hill: Lance Crayton 22, Japree Perry 17, Thailand Adams 2, Bryson Shipp 1, Andrew Barber 16, Donavon Perryman 3, Tay Brevard 4.

Team fouls: Rock Hill 24; Northwestern 25

Foul-shooting: Rock Hill 15-29; Northwestern 10-17

3-pointers: Rock Hill 4 (Barber 3, Crayton 1); Northwestern 3 (Durham 1, Martin 1, Dareef 1)

Records: Rock Hill 6-4; Northwestern 6-5.

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "On a special stage, Northwestern edges Rock Hill."