File photo by Fabian RadulescuDeriece Parks scored 19 points to lead Olympic to its first basketball state title Saturday at UNC's Dean Dome.
is 86-4 over the past three seasons under head coach Ty Baumgardner and has been featured in MaxPreps.com's national rankings each of the last two years.
Despite all that success, the Trojans had yet to break through and win a state title. In fact, the school had never won a state title in anything outside of slow pitch softball, which the North Carolina High School Athletic Association no longer sponsors.
Olympic's state championship drought ended Saturday with a 56-53 win over
Broughton (Raleigh) in the Class 4A state title game. The game was played in the Dean E. Smith Center (better known as the Dean Dome) on the University of North Carolina campus.
Senior guard
Deriece Parks led the Trojans with 19 points as they finished a perfect 30-0 on the season. Olympic entered the game ranked No. 4 nationally by MaxPreps.
Junior guard
C.J. Jackson added 17 points for the new state champions.
The loss for Broughton added to a tough day for North Carolina State head coach Mark Gottfried, who saw his team eliminated from the ACC Tournament by Miami earlier in the day. Gottfried's son, Cameron, is a promising junior guard for Broughton.
Other nationally-ranked teams in action* No. 10
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) will play for its third California state title in a row next weekend after dismantling No. 3
Etiwanda 60-37. The Monarchs will meet up with
Aaron Gordon and
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) in the CIF Open Division state championship game.
* No. 6
Simeon (Chicago) put an exclamation point on a special run by beating
Stevenson (Lincolnshire) 58-40 to capture its fourth Illinois Class 4A state title in a row.
Jabari Parker, often the center of attention for the Wolverines, finished with 20 points and eight rebounds. Simeon (30-3) went 117-15 in Parker's four years with the program including 92-6 over the past three years. The school was also once home to Bulls star Derrick Rose and has won seven state titles overall.
* No. 16
Chester advanced to Pennsylvania's Class AAAA semifinals with a 55-42 win over
Great Valley (Malvern). The Clippers led by just one early in the third quarter but gradually pulled away for their 15th victory in a row by 10 or more points. Bidding for its third state title in as many years, Chester will meet
St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia) in the semifinals.
* The backcourt combination of
Jahmel Taylor and
Namon Wright was too much for No. 17
Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) as
Pacific Hills (Los Angeles) emerged with a 73-69 in California's Division IV state semifinals. Taylor, a Washington commitment, poured in 20 points while Wright added 20.
* No. 19
Morgan Park (Chicago) capped a dominant state tournament run by beating
Cahokia 63-48 in the Illinois Class 3A title game. The Mustangs, who finished the season 33-3, won state tournament games by margins of 67 and 63 points and won all seven contests by an average margin of 38 points per game.
* In 2010,
Lincoln Gahanna played spoiler against an unbeaten
Northland (Columbus) team led by then-senior Jared Sullinger. History did not repeat itself Saturday as another undefeated Northland (28-0) team overcame a halftime deficit for a 62-53 win, advancing to Ohio's Division I final four.
Armani Towns led the victorious Vikings with 20 points and seven boards.
* No. 25
Carmel will play for its second Indiana Class 4A state championship in a row after dismantling
Merrillville 66-36. The Greyhounds (25-2) received 22 points apiece from senior guards
James Crowley and
Michael Volovic. Carmel will meet up with a hot
Indianapolis Cathedral squad next Saturday for the title.