By Jesse Deal, for the SNAP

The Gray Stone Day varsity basketball team handed North Moore its fifth straight loss Friday night as the Knights notched a 59-49 win at home.

Seven Knights (2-4, 1-1 YVC) scored points in the contest, and a strong defensive performance limited the Mustangs (0-5, 0-1) to 14 first-half points.

It was an important victory for Gray Stone, who had previously suffered blowout losses to Mount Pleasant and North Stanly.

“My boys played hard and we’ve been looking for a victory like that,” Gray Stone Day head coach Joel Childrey said. “We just grind it out every day in practice and now we finally get one. It feels good. Our defense made them uncomfortable and I thought my kids responded well.”

Three-point specialist Chase Viscomi had a team-high 15 points and senior Alex McDow wasn’t far behind with 14 of his own. Junior forward Marshall Overcash recorded 11, including four buckets from the paint in the second half.

Senior Donovan Bernard notched nine points for the Knights.

Though the Mustangs got off to a rough start from the field, they actually outscored the Knights in the final two quarters; however, their efforts weren’t enough to pull ahead.

“Hats off to North Moore,” Childrey said. “They are great kids and fought just as hard as we did — we just ended up with the victory today.”

Justis Williams led the Mustangs with 14 points and Cody Patterson recorded 13 off the bench. Billy Roberts notched 10 as well.

The Knights hit 15 of their 27 free-throw attempts in the contest, while the Mustangs connected on 13 of 33 attempts.

These missed foul shots, coupled with turnover issues and perimeter defense problems, doomed North Moore even though it scored a season high 49 points. Prior to Friday, the Mustangs’ season-high points total was 38 against East Montgomery.

On Tuesday, Gray Stone will square off with West Montgomery (2-1, 0-1) and North Moore will face winless South Davidson (0-5, 0-1).

GS 9 17 14 19 59
NM 4 10 14 21 49

GS – Chase Viscomi 15, Alex McDow 14, Marshall Overcash 11, Benard 9, Bailey 5, Dulin 3, Maness 2.

NM – Justis Williams 14, Cody Patterson 13, Billy Roberts 10, Johnson 6, Horne 4, Pennington 2.

Jesse Deal is a freelance contributor for The Stanly News & Press.