Highland Tech boys set history in first round, girls fall

GASTONIA — After winning the school’s first regular-season conference title, Highland Tech made some more history.

The Rams opened the 1A state playoffs with a 70-32 home blowout of Rosman on Monday for the program’s largest margin of victory in the playoffs.

Jevon Patton had 23 points, 10 assists and six steals as Highland Tech (18-6) won a playoff game for the seventh straight year. The third-seeded Rams will play host to No. 6 seed Mitchell in the second round on Wednesday at 7. Mitchell beat Cherryville 66-61.

Rosman (12-14), which tied for fifth in the Big Smoky Mountain Conference, kept it tight in the first quarter before Highland Tech began to pull away in the second quarter. The Rams led 41-19 at the half and kept pouring it on, surpassing their previous most lopsided playoff win of 72-38 against Cherokee in last year’s first round.

Demetrious Lewis added 13 points and seven rebounds for Highland Tech and hit four 3-pointers in the first half.

“I thought Demetrious did a good job settling in and knocking down shots for us,” Highland Tech coach Butch Blalock said. “He sort of opened that thing for us. Once we got them out of the zone, we got them up and down.”

Highland Tech, coming off a double-overtime loss to Lincolnton in the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference tournament championship game, also got contributions from Robert McMillion-El (eight points, seven rebounds), Joe Deese (nine points) and Josh Neely (three points, eight rebounds).

The Rams held Rosman’s leading scorer Hunter Reese to seven points. Kline Dalton was the Tigers’ top scorer at nine points.

Rosman coach Mick Galloway said the turning point in the game was when Patton nailed a 3 from the right wing at the first-quarter buzzer for a 16-9 lead. The Tigers never got closer than five after that.

“We knew he was going to take that shot at the end of the first quarter, and that momentum kind of carried over into the second quarter,” Galloway said.

If Highland Tech wins Wednesday, it will need Hendersonville to lose for the first time all season if it wants to be at home again on Friday.

Girls: West Wilkes 49, Highland Tech 42 — The Highland Tech girls had won a playoff game in three straight seasons, but the streak came to an end with a 49-42 home loss to West Wilkes on Monday.

The Rams (9-13) led only at 3-2 and had trouble finding a rhythm against the Mountain Valley 1A/2A Conference’s fourth-place team.

“Defensive glass is where we’ve been hurting,” Highland Tech coach Jerry Jordan said. “We were hurt last week in the conference tournament when we gave up 25 offensive rebounds. We gave up at least 20 tonight. You play good defense initially and you give up second and third opportunities, it’s tough.”

Things started going wrong for the Rams (9-13) from their opening possession, when they had to burn a timeout to avoid a 10-second violation.

Mikalia Butler led Highland Tech with 17 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and four assists. Maia Black added 14 points, six rebounds, three steals, four assists. Freshman Madison Armstrong chipped in with 13 rebounds and three steals.

Highland Tech will graduate six seniors from this team, which tied for fourth in the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference.

“A little disappointed this season,” Jordan said. “Coming in I thought we had enough to be above .500. I honestly did think that.”

Although West Wilkes (14-12) finished fourth in the Mountain Valley 1A/2A Conference, it beat runner-up North Wilkes and third-place East Wilkes once each.

“We have some confidence just because some of the great teams we play in our conference,” West Wilkes coach Allie Absher said.

Erin Daney led the Lady Blackhawks with 15 points, and Leah Bishop was a force inside with 11 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks. West Wilkes advances to face second-seeded Avery in Wednesday’s second round.

Phillip Gardner: 704-869-1843; twitter.com/gazettephil