North Stanly’s eight team men’s basketball holiday tournament opened Wednesday evening with a pair of games.

After Union Academy opened with an 85-50 win versus Valor Prep, the host Comets took on Central Academy out of the Rocky River Conference.

North Stanly kept the Cougars off the scoreboard for nearly seven minutes in the opening period and cruised to a 56-34 win.

Jalen Walker led North (9-2) with 17 points, scoring nine of the Comets’ 13 points in the third period. Gavin Helms added 12 points for North.

Maddox Lowder scored all 10 of his points for the Comets in the first quarter.

The Comets out scored Central 13-0 over the first 6:54 of the first quarter.

In the second, the Cougars (2-8) pulled to within 13 points with 3:29 left in the period.

A 9-0 Comets run put the hosts up by 20 points or more for the remainder of the half.

North Stanly and Union Academy will play Friday night at 6 p.m.

On Thursday, the undefeated South Stanly Rebel Bulls (8-0) will take on the Bonnie Cone Eagles (2-8) at 7 p.m.

West Stanly (4-4) faces Corvian Community (3-2) at 5:30 p.m.