MINT HILL, NC – The Independence boys basketball team dominated this contest to rumble past the West Mecklenburg Hawks 63-28 in a non-conference win at “The Big I.” The home team started the game with a 7-0 run, after the Hawks Keyshawn Brown swished a 3-pointer, Indy went on another 14-0 run to slam the door early in this contest.
The Patriots outscored the Hawks 21-3 in the opening period putting the visitors on their heels in a deep hole to dig out of from the opening tipoff. Kameron Jasper led the charge scoring 5 points including a nifty 3-pointer he swished from the high post. Yancy Thomason also drilled a 3-pointer while Kolbe Johnson hit two jump shots putting the Hawks in a serious deficit.
In the second period, with the Indy bench rotating and Zion Bosley-Slade getting himself into foul trouble picking up his third foul, sophomore Ayden Davis entered the game off the bench and filled in nicely with plenty of hustle, good defense, grabbed a few key rebounds and contributed 3 points while entering the game late in the first period. The Hawks outscored the Patriots 11-10, but could not make a big dent into the Indy lead. At the intermission, Indy now had a comfortable 31-14 edge.
The third period belonged to Indy outscoring their opponent 16-7. This is when Thomason had the hot hand hitting his second 3-pointer, and compiling 11 points in the period to expand the home teams advantage to 47-21. He simply dominated this period for the Patriots. This outburst by Indy could not be overcome, the Patriots sealed their second victory of the season.
In the final period, the rout continued as Indy added 16 more points to the Hawks 7. Chandler Little nailed a 3-point shot to start the scoring, then Kaleb Jasper and later Josh Iseah both connected from the 3-point range. When the final buzzer sounded Indy had themselves a very solid 63-28 non-conference victory while coach Davis enjoyed his 201st career win.
Yancy Thomason led all scorers with 15 points, Johnson 9, Bosley-Slade 7, Kameron Jasper 6, Little 6, Tosh Alberga 5, Kaleb Jasper 4, Nick Barnes 4, Davis 3, Iseah 3, Xavier Brooks 2 points for the Patriots. While Omari Sanders-Richardson had 9, and Myles Turner scored 9 points to lead the Hawks attack.
