Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Remember when your parents would tell you to take care of your things or they would take them away?
The Fairland Dragons were taking care of the basketball in the first half but not in the second half and the Cox Mill Chargers made them pay by forcing 19 turnovers — 13 steals — in a 76-50 win on Tuesday in the Beach Ball Classic.
Fairland (6-1) trailed by just three points at halftime before Cox Mill outscored the Dragons 49-26 in the second half.
“Obviously, we turned the ball over way too much and they got easy buckets off those turnovers,” said Fairland coach Nathan Speed.
“(Cox Mill) is a great team, well-coached with two players who can take over a game at any time. IN games like this one, you have to take advantage of opportunities you get but we didn’t do that consistently.”
Keedrick Cunningham had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead Fairland (6-1). Luke Thomas had 14 points, Kollin Van Horn scored nine and had four blocked shots, and Ty Staten grabbed eight rebounds.
“Overall, it was a great learning experience for us,” said Speed.
Wendell Moore scored 29 points and North Carolina signee Rechon Black had 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals for Cox Mill (10-1) who led the entire game.
Cox Mills is the top-ranked team in North Carolina and ranked 11th nationally.
The Chargers were up 5-0 when Van Horn scored off an assist by Cunningham.
Cox Mill then went on an 11-2 run and led 16-4 with 9:19 left in the half.
A layup by Black had the lead at 25-11 but Thomas hit a pair of 3-pointers and a layup and Van Horn converted two foul shots and the Dragons were down 27-21 with 57 seconds on the clock.
Clayton Thomas hit a triple for the Dragons with 26 seconds left in the half to cut the deficit to 27-24 at the half.
The Dragons were down 33-28 after a layup by Cunningham with 14:13 left in the second half. Cunningham made a 3-pointer and Fairland was down 37-31 with 12:47 on the clock.
But the Chargers began to gradually pull away and their biggest lead was 26 with 1:17 to play.
Fairland will now play at noon on Wednesday against Lanett (Ala.) who lost 59-38 to Clark (NV).
Cox Mills    27    49    =    76
Fairland    24    26    =    50
COX MILLS (10-1): Wendell Moore 10-21 6-6 29, Rechon Black 9-17 0-0 19, Cody Cline 2-4 0-0 5, Khalid Davis 2-4 2-2 6, Joel Hall 1-2 1-2 3, Jalen Bynum 2-3 0-0 6, Hunter Sedergren 0-0 0-0 0, Malcom Morgan 0-0 0-0 0, Ahmad Baruti 0-1 0-0 0, Wesley Poindexter 0-0 0-0 0, Rycki Hardin 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Stone-Carrawell 3-8 1-2 8. Totals: 29-60 10-12 76. 3-pt goals: 8-23 (Moore 3-8, Black 1-5, Cline 1-1, Davis 0-2, Bynum 2-3, Stone-Carrawell 1-4). Rebounds: 9-O, 26-D = 35 (Moore 8, Baruti 7, Black 6). Assists: 15 (Black 4). Steals: 13 (Black 5). Blocks: 4 (Black 3). Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.
FAIRLAND (6-1): Isaiah Howell 1-6 0-0 2, Ty Staten 0-2 1-2 1, Luke Thomas 5-13 0-0 14, Kollin Van Horn 2-7 5-6 9, Keedric Cunningham 8-19 1-1 19, Chase Fisher 0-0 0-0 0, Joel Lambiotte 0-3 0-0 0, Matt Mondlak 1-2 0-0 2, Austin Gartin 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Chinn 0-0 0-0 0, Clayton Thomas 1-1 0-0 3, Andy Lange 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-53 7-9 50. 3-pt goals: 7-22 (Howell 0-3, L. Thomas 4-12, Cunningham 2-5, Lambiotte 0-1, C. Thomas 1-1). Rebounds: 10-O,24-D = 34 (Staten 8, Cunningham 8). Assists: 5 (Staten 2). Steals: 4. Turnovers: 19. Blocks: 5 (Van Horn 4). Fouls: 10. Fouled out (Van Horn).