It took a third-quarter fire alarm to cool off Middle Creek's Garius Adams, as the star senior went off for 28 points and the Mustangs cruised to a 79-56 win over Southern Durham on Friday.

Adams scored 22 of his points in the first half, matching the first half total of Southern Durham's entire team. But after a fire alarm forced a gym evacuation in the third quarter, Adams cooled a bit.

"That alarm was the down part of the game, but the crowd stayed in it and we were able to maintain our lead," Adams said.

Middle Creek coach David Kushner said he was happy to see Adams mix his three-point shooting with his ability to drive to the basket.

"He really let things come to him and he drove a lot more," Kushner said. "He tends sometimes to shoot a lot of threes. But he can still drive to the rim every time he wants."

After missing his first three shots from three-point range, Adams started driving the ball, which he felt opened up his shot in the second quarter.

"In the beginning I was shooting a lot of threes, but I think it helped my team out more when I started driving and allowed me to kick the ball out to my teammates," Adams said. "When they expect me to drive, they give me a couple feet and I can put a good move on them and pull up."

Middle Creek blew the game open in the second quarter, scoring 32 points and leading the Spartans 50-22 at the half.

While Kushner is always happy to see his team be aggressive with the ball, he was more pleased with his players' abilities to get in a set offense and run plays, something the Mustangs had strongly focused on this week in practice.

"I thought we were patient. It's amazing that we scored 50 points in the first half, because I thought we played slower than usual," Kushner said. "We got the shots that we wanted and ran our offense the way we do at practice."

The Mustangs found a balance between fast break and set plays, allowing them to find open shots and blow up offensively in the first half.

"We want to play fast when we get the opportunities and put the pressure on the defense," Kushner said. " But we need to have the right spacing and take good shots, and I thought tonight we got the shots we wanted."

The Spartans found themselves in early foul trouble, as Middle Creek was able to exploit Southern Durham's physical play and get to the foul line.

"Southern Durham is always a tough, physical team, so I really challenged the team before the game to try to beat that toughness and I thought we met the challenge tonight," Kushner said.