By Dylan Branscome
February 9, 2025 – The Davidson-Davie STORM secure an easy victory, 97-67, over the CCBC Dundalk Lions at Brinkley Gym on Sunday night to improve to 22-2 on the season.
Davidson was able to secure the victory with an overall amazing performance from the entire team. Lamonte Cousar notched another double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Jamaal Chrisp was able to get 20 points and nine rebounds. Kobe Parker had 17 while shooting 3/5 from behind the arc, and Will Gray added 15. Two players had four steals, Dane Stewart and Parker
The STORM also shot exceptionally well as a team. Shooting 55.6% from the field and 53.3% from three helped give Davidson the easy non-conference win.
It wasn’t entirely easy for Davidson, however. The first half, and most of the game, was turnover-ridden for both teams. Having 20+ turnovers for the game, it was a pretty tight contest for the first half, the STORM only up by 45-36.
“We’ve got to be more consistent on both sides of the ball,” head coach Matt Ridge said at halftime. “We just have not been intelligent, and we have some terrible turnovers. I’ve got to do a better job of getting our kids ready to play smarter offensively.”
The STORM came out of the break almost a completely different team, quickly embarking on a 12-0 run, backed up by two back-to-back threes from Parker. This run pretty much cemented the eventual victory, behind the many steals from the entire team and dominance around the rim from Cousar, outscoring Dundalk in the second half 52-31.
“Our guys were really focused on both ends,” Ridge said post-game. “We were getting stops and then getting easy buckets in transition, really proud of how we came out of the second half.”
Finishing around the rim was an issue, but Davidson was able to fix that by mostly getting their own misses and still getting points out of it, whether that be a put-back or by getting to the free throw line. Davidson also outscored the Lions in bench points 33-11, which seems to be a common practice for the STORM.
Davidson’s two big men, Cousar and Chrisp, really owned the paint and were simply unstoppable, getting 45 points together. Chrisp was even able to knock down two threes.
“Those two kids keep getting better and better,” Ridge said post-game about the pair, who can seemingly score whenever and wherever. He also complimented Stewart’s energy off the bench and Aden Taylor’s, reinforcing the “team win” mentality that Davidson has always been known for.
The STORM return to conference action at home against the Louisburg Hurricanes on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:00 PM EST.