Northwood (16-5, 13-0) used balanced scoring and improved rebounding last week to take a 71-57 win over Carrboro and stay undefeated in Carolina-12 Conference games. With three games to go after that, the Chargers were three games up on second-place Carrboro (13-7, 10-3) in the conference standings.

John Wieland, one of five Chargers to score in double digits last Tuesday at home against Carrboro, said that being a comfortable position atop the league wouldn't make Northwood complacent.

"We lost a couple of games out-of-conference and we didn't like that at all," Wieland said. "We have three games left, and they're all big games to us."

The size of the bulls-eye on the Chargers' collective back has grown bigger with each success, especially after they made two appearances in the NCHSAA state championship final in the past three years.

The Jaguars, after a 79-68 loss to Northwood in Carrboro, went after the Chargers with good defensive intensity in their second meeting of the season. Carrboro led 13-10 early after a 3-pointer by Alex McVeigh, and was still up 22-21 on a trey by Erik Perou.

Northwood closed the first half with a 6-1 run, which included four straight free throws in the half's final minute.

"We got into some foul trouble, and so we went into a zone," Carrboro coach John Alcox said. "We prefer to go man-to-man and keep pressure on the ball. But we had to sit back in that zone to protect some people. They knocked down some shots from the outside, and we didn't hit as many."

Up 31-27 at halftime, Northwood broke open the game with an 11-2 run late in the third quarter. Ti Pinnix keyed the run with its first eight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers.

Carrboro hit just nine of its last 28 shots from the field, while Northwood made 10 of its last 16. Just as importantly, the Chargers made eight of 13 free throws down the stretch as Carrboro's fouls put Northwood into the double-bonus.

"We finished well," Northwood coach Russ Frazier said. "We made some experience mistakes -- like some bad passes -- but when we played well, we did some beautiful things."

Mark Goods led Northwood's scoring with 15 points, and Wieland finished with 14. Aumad Walker scored 12 points, while Pinnix and Cam Pappas each added 11.

Keenan van Name led Carrboro with game highs of 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting and 10 rebounds. James Scott scored 16 points.

Wieland, who bantered good-naturedly with the 6-6 van Name in between battles under the boards, said Carrboro had presented Northwood with its biggest challenge this side of arch-rival Jordan-Matthews.

"This was an emotional game for us. We know some of the Carrboro players pretty well," Wieland said, watching the last of the Northwood Nuthouse's fans leave the gym after Cowboys and Indians Night. "We may have been too emotional at the start. When were able to settle down, we were ready to play in the second half."

Girls: Chargers 71, Jaguars 51

PITTSBORO Fighting to stay alive in the hunt for one of the Carolina-12's playoff spots, Carrboro's girls team threw a scare into Northwood last Tuesday before falling 71-51 to the league's top 2A program.

Carrboro led by eight points early, but couldn't keep up the pace after Northwood's Shelby Wolfe starting hitting from all over the court. Wolfe scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the first half, leading Northwood from behind to a 57-36 lead by the break.

"Carrboro put us in a hole early, and we had to struggle back" Northwood coach Cameron Vernon said. "Diamond Tyson is a heck of a player. My girls didn't lay down on the job, but they just couldn't stop her."

Tyson scored 17 and Camille Gallagher 11 to lead Carrboro, but it wasn't enough to overcome Northwood's repeated baskets in transition and points from the paint.

"We just ran into some sort of wall on defense," Carrboro coach Sheremy Dillard-Clanton said. "We didn't stop them at all. We allowed way too many second-chance points under the basket."

With its third loss in five games, Carrboro fell to 11-9 overall, 8-5 in the Carolina-12. Despite that, the Jaguars were still in third place among the combined conference's six 2A schools. The Jags close their regular-season schedule with three 2A opponents: Granville Central last Friday, Durham School of the Arts on Tuesday and then the season-finale at Cedar Ridge next Friday.

Northwood closes with games against DSA, South Granville and Granville Central.