HICKORY, N.C. — The fifth-seeded Catawba Valley Community College men's basketball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Region X/District VI tournament on Monday night with a 95-75 victory against 12th-seeded Vance Granville at the Tarlton Complex.
With the victory, the Red Hawks improve to 22-8 overall on the season — breaking a tie for the second most wins in a season in program history.
Returning from a foot injury that sidelined him during the final three games of the regular season, sophomore forward Isayah Johnson scored a team-high 15 points in Monday night's win — 11 of those coming in the second half of the contest.
Teammates Jordan Powell, Dezure Moulden and Brandon Reeves also reached double figures in scoring for the Red Hawks with 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Leading by two points early in the first half, CVCC used a 13-3 run during a three-minute span starting at the 9:36 mark of the first half to break away from Vance Granville, growing its single-digit lead into a double-digit advantage and taking a 42-27 lead by halftime.
Building on its comfortable lead, the Red Hawks outscored the Vanguard 53-48 during the second half. Moulden scored all 11 of his points during the second half — equaling Johnson's second-half point total — to help secure the program's first postseason victory since Feb. 28, 2016.
Justus Baldwin and Quavion Basyden led Vance Granville (5-24) with 25 and 21 points, respectively.
The CVCC men's basketball team continues play in the Region X/District VI tournament on Thursday with a tough match up against fourth-seeded Wake Tech — the host team for the tournament. Tip off between the Red Hawks and Eagles is set for 6:30 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C.
Below are the updated brackets for the Region X/District IV tournament following Monday's results:
2019 Region X/District VI men's basketball tournament
First round scores (from Monday)
#5 Catawba Valley 95, #12 Vance-Granville 75
#6 Bryant & Stratton 82, #11 Lenoir 62
#7 Davidson County 95, #10 Fayetteville Tech 86
#9 Patrick Henry at #8 Louisburg, no report
Quarterfinals (Thursday at Wake Tech CC)
Game 1: #2 Guilford Tech vs. #7 Davidson County, noon
Game 2 :#1 Pitt vs. #8 Louisburg/#9 Patrick Henry winner, 2 p.m.
Game 3: #3 Florida Gateway vs. #6 Bryant & Stratton, 4:30 p.m.
Game 4: #4 Wake Tech vs. #5 Catawba Valley, 6:30 p.m.
Semifinals (Friday at Wake Tech CC)
Guilford Tech/Davidson County winner vs. Florida Gateway/Bryant & Stratton winner, 5 p.m.
Pitt/Louisburg winner vs. Wake Tech/Catawba Valley winner, 7 p.m.
Championship Game (Saturday at Wake Tech CC)
Semifinal winners, 1 p.m.
**The winner of the Region 10 tournament receives the District XIV automatic bid to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DII National Tournament. Regular-season champion Pitt has clinched District XV title. If Pitt wins the tournament, the tournament runner-up will be District XV champion. The NJCAA DII National Tournament will be played in Danville, Ill. on March 19-23 at the Mary Miller Center. For more info on the National Tournament, visit http://njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2018-19/div2/national_championship/index**
