Tuesday’s boys’ high school basketball rewind: No. 2 North Meck survives in Winston-Salem

North Mecklenburg’s leader delivered a pair of big plays in the final minutes Tuesday night, propelling the Vikings to the 4A boys’ Elite Eight.

Isaiah Evans, a 5-star Duke recruit, hit a 3-point field goal with 1:37 left, then blocked a shot by Mount Tabor standout Snook Peterkin in the final seconds, lifting the fifth-seeded Vikings over fourth-seeded Mount Tabor 45-42. Evans finished with a team-high 21 points.

North Mecklenburg, which will play at Myers Park Friday, survived on a night when a lot of things went wrong.

Mount Tabor’s aggressive defense forced the Vikings to shoot mostly from 3-point range, and a lot of North Meck’s shots didn’t fall. Prior to Tuesday night, the Vikings hadn’t been held below 59 points this season.

But down the stretch, the Vikings — still playing without their second leading scorer Trey Maxwell (knee) — had enough to survive.

Greg Murray’s layup with 2:55 to play tied the game at 40, and the Vikings then forced a turnover. On their next possession, the Vikings pulled ahead 43-40 on Evans’ 3-pointer.

North Mecklenburg made it 44-40 on a Pierce free throw with 49 seconds left, but Peterkin drove the length of the floor and scored on a layup seven seconds later, cutting the Vikings’ lead to 44-42.

Murray sank another free throw in the closing seconds, and Evans then blocked a 3-point shot from Peterkin to seal the victory.

Tuesday’s #BIG5 top performers

Bishop Boswell, Myers Park: The Tennessee recruit had a game-high 18 points in a 54-24 win over Independence.

Tarris Bouie, Chambers: In a 78-68 win over Weddington, Bouie had 40 points, making 14-of-19 field goals and 10-of-11 free throws. He also had five assists and four rebounds.

Joshua Dalton, Central Cabarrus: In a 96-49 win over Asheville Reynolds in an N.C. 3A third round game, Dalton finished with a game-high 36 points.

Isaiah Evans, North Mecklenburg: In a 45-42 come-from-behind win at Mount Tabor, Evans had a team-high 21 points.

Trent Steinour, Lake Norman: Steinour had 19 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks in a 74-61 win over Greensboro Grimsley.

Tuesday’s box scores

CENTRAL CABARRUS 96, AC REYNOLDS 49

A.C. Reynolds 11 21 14 3 — 49

Central Cabarrus 26 23 31 16 — 96

A.C. REYNOLDS 49 — Dickey 2, Rumbough 6, Anders 3, Gilliland 17, Brown 11, Clayton 8, Peak 2

CENTRAL CABARRUS 96 – Chase Daniel 7, Carson Daniel 11, DJ Kent 17, Joshua Dalton 36, Noah Edmisten 11, Emari Russell 6, Jake Baker 2, Cayden Smith 3, LarQuise Burse-Jones, Chinua Ezeigbo 3, Kevonta’ Martin, Camden Lowery, Infinite Morrow

Notable: Central forced turnovers 39 and had 30 assists, 21 steals, and five blocks. Central Cabarrus has won at least 30 games for 3 years in a row (30-1, 32-0, 30-0).

CHAMBERS 78, WEDDINGTON 68

Chambers 11 19 20 28 — 78

Weddington 14 15 17 22 — 68

CHAMBERS 78 — Markus Kerr 5, Malik McCotter 9, Tarris Bouie 40, Jordan Patton 4, Jaydon Terrell 3, Maurio Hanson 17

Notables: For Chambers, Tarris Bouie had 40 points (14-19 FG, 10-11 FT), five assists and four rebounds. Maurio Hanson had 17 points (7-11 FG), 16 rebounds and two blocks.

CORVIAN COMMUNITY 82, MOUNTAIN ISLAND CHARTER 51

Mountain Island Charter 14 6 14 17 — 51

Corvian Community 15 29 24 14 — 82

MOUNTAIN ISLAND CHARTER 51 —Christian Jones 8, Kola Abudu 5, Tavien Julius 10, Caleb Nesbitt 5, Jayden Massey 7, Camryn Jones 6

CORVIAN COMMUNTY 82 — Ricky Moore Jr. 23, Malachi McCutcheon 13, Milton 7, Jack Hudson 16, Johnson 7, Adrian Scott 6, AJ Jackson 6

LAKE NORMAN 74, GRIMSLEY 61

Lake Norman 12 15 25 22 — 74

Grimsley 15 12 8 26 — 61

LAKE NORMAN 74 — Will Googins 3, Josh Yates 9, Santana Lynch 19, Tre McKinnon 17, Nick Arnold 4, Grant Dryden 3, Trent Steinour 19

Notable: For Lake Norman, Nick Arnol had nine rebounds, six steals and four assists.

MYERS PARK 54, INDEPENDENCE 24

Independence 11 2 10 1 — 24

Myers Park - 10 19 17 8 — 54

INDEPENDENCE 24 — Josh Alberga 8

MYERS PARK 54 — Bishop Boswell 18, Sadiq White Jr 17, Sir Mohammed 9

Records: Myers Park 27-2

Notable: Myers Park makes its fourth Elite 8 appearance in six years.

NORTH MECKLENBURG 45, MOUNT TABOR 42

Mount Tabor 10 12 10 10 — 42

North Mecklenburg 9 11 13 12 — 45

MOUNT TABOR 43 — Peterkin 23, Blair 6, Robinson 7, Koonin 1, Shay 1

NORTH MECKLENBURG 45 — Young 5, Chadlyn Traylor 10, Pierce 6, Isaiah Evans 21, Carson Evans 2