Davidson-Davie STORM Adds Another Region X Victory Against Central Carolina

January 7, 2024 – Davidson-Davie added another Region X victory to its resume Saturday afternoon in convincing fashion.

Deadlocked with Central Carolina Community College seven minutes in, Davidson-Davie unleashed its fury by scoring 18 unanswered points, paving the way to a comfortable 77-57 win at Brinkley Gym. Since dropping the season opener via forfeit to the Cougars, the second-ranked STORM have now won 13 straight and maintain sole possession of first in the league standings.

Nygie Stroman led all scorers with 17 points to go with seven rebounds. Kobe Parker torched the nets for 16 points on five made 3-pointers, while Ethan English and Jakob Moore added 12 points each for the STORM.

CCCC was giving Davidson-Davie a handful in the first half, drawing even at 13 apiece at the first media timeout. The next few minutes would change the course of the game.

Moore hit the offensive glass for a putback and Stroman muscled in a layup off an inbounds feed on the baseline. An alley-oop slam by Moore, followed up by buckets from Frank Stockton and Aden Taylor, turned a knotted score into an advantage of 10 for the STORM. That prompted a timeout from the Cougars, but there was more punishment coming.

Parker buried his fourth triple of the half, igniting a stretch of eight consecutive points to complete the huge run. With six minutes left in the half, Davidson-Davie was in command at 31-13. The lead was extended to 41-20 at the break.

STORM head coach Matt Ridge was pleased with the first-half effort from his team. He especially liked the havoc caused on the defensive side.

“I feel like we were really locked in defensively. Guys were denying and making it extremely difficult to complete passes and get open looks. We were also good at completing defensive possessions by getting the rebound, getting the ball out, and pushing it. That is when we are at our best – when we get defensive stops and get out in transition.”

For a second straight game, however, the second half proved to not be up to program standards. The STORM were careless with the ball, turning it over 20 times for the afternoon. Poor shot selection was again an issue, and some of the open looks they did have were not converted into points.

The half started off fine with the margin stretching to a game-high 25 points. Central Carolina would dig in and draw within 15 with 11:27 remaining on Deandra Leach’s nice scoop shot in the lane. Davidson-Davie would not let their guests get any closer but hardly pulled away. The STORM did counter with Parker drilling one more 3 and English driving in for a layup. The lead would fluctuate between the 15-20 range the rest of the way.

“We made some poor decisions there in the second half,” said Ridge. “Part of it was our mentality and part of it was missing open shots. We were missing layups, free throws and wide open 3’s. The other part was being willing to pass up a good shot of a teammate to get a great shot.

“It starts between your ears and your willingness to be unselfish and play for the name on the front instead of the back of the jersey. We did not do a good job of playing hard, smart, and together.”
The STORM shot 40.3 percent for the game and were just 19.2 percent from deep. They left 11 points at the free-throw line.

On the horizon for Davidson-Davie is a long five-game road trip. It begins Wednesday at Division I Richard Bland. The following four are in Region X play.