By Ken Bradley
MaxPreps.com
East Mecklenburg boys basketball coach Jason Grube is used to seeing a county foe on the opposing bench around this time during the playoffs.
The past two years, Vance eliminated East Meck in the regionals.
Well, Vance is still around, but it won’t be matched with East Meck (at least on Friday night). Vance advanced to the NC 4A Western Regional semifinals with a 71-64 victory against W-S Reynolds. On Friday night at 7, Vance meets Mount Tabor.
“Apparently the North Carolina High School Athletic Association felt sorry for us this year as Vance has knocked us out the previous two years at the regional,” Grube said. “So they rewarded us with playing a team that is bigger on the frontline than half of the ACC teams.”
That “reward” is another Mecklenburg County team in North Meck (24-5). East Meck (22-8) will square off with the Vikings on Friday night at 8:30 at North Forsyth High School.
Andre Marhold stands 6-foot-7 for North Meck, as does freshman Bernard Sullivan. Kyle Gaillard is 6-foot-6.
“Obviously, we have to contend with their tremendous frontline and not let Andre Marhold and Kyle Gaillard have too big of games.”
Marhold scored a game-high 27 in North Meck’s 71-55 victory against Greensboro Page to reach the regional semifinals.
Meanwhile, East Meck is coming off a hard-fought 66-64 win against Hopewell.
Titus Robinson, at 6-foot-8, led the Eagles with 19 points in that game.
“Titus has been playing like an animal,” Grube said. “He was instrumental in our late third-quarter comeback as we were down 11. He triggered the comeback at the point-of-attack in our full-court pressure.”
That defensive pressure forced six turnovers in a game-changing 15-2 run.
Jeremy Ingram added 17 points for East Meck.
“Jeremy provided an outside spark and unexpected offense with a career-high 17 points in a big-game atmosphere,” Grube added.
Malik Stith sank two free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining in the game to provide the two-point victory.
Boys' Basketball: East Lincoln Rolling
Despite losing to Cherryville in its conference tournament final, East Lincoln has shown no signs of letting that loss linger.
The Mustangs (24-6) hammered Central Davidson, 75-48, to advance to the 2A Western Regional semifinals against Shelby on Wednesday night at 8:30 at North Forsyth High School in Winston-Salem.
“The loss to Cherryville had no effect on our play in the sectionals,” East Lincoln coach Neil Hodges said.
Evidently not.
Hodges got two huge nights against Central Davidson from Keith Rendleman and Adrian Forney. Forney tossed in 25 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Rendleman added 20. Both players were also standouts on the East Lincoln football team in the fall.
“Rendleman is a basketball player that plays football,” Hodges said of his 6-6 forward. “Forney is a football player that plays basketball.”
Fortunately for Hodges, both are in basketball uniforms entering Wednesday’s game against Shelby (25-3).
Shelby will have a tall task – literally – in containing Rendleman and 6-9 center Alex Newsome, who signed to play at Navy next year.
“They’ve got a 6-9 kid who’s big. They’ve got a 6-6 kid who’s big. They’ve got a coach who’s big,” Shelby coach Aubrey Hollifield told the Gaston Gazette. “They’re just big. They’re all big.”
Shelby enters the game on a 22-game winning streak.
Girls’ Roundup: West Charlotte bounces back; North Meck falls
The West Charlotte girls’ basketball team beat Greensboro Grimsley, 50-44, on Tuesday night in the NC 4A Western Regional semifinals, a year after falling to Grimsley in the Regional championship game.
The Lions improved to 28-2, while Grimsley (29-1) suffered its first – and only – loss of the season.
West Charlotte plays McDowell (26-3) in the Regional final at the Joel Coliseum Annex in Winston-Salem on Saturday. McDowell advanced by rolling past North Meck, 69-49.
According to the Charlotte Observer, West Charlotte was led by Nikki Burton, who scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. Christal Caldwell added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Grimsley’s Trumae Lucas, who has signed to play at the University of Florida, was held to 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
“We showed a lot of heart tonight,” West Charlotte coach Reggie Mobley told the Observer. “The last couple games we played within the (conference) tournament and the sectionals prepared us for this day. We get behind, we’ll keep fighting.”
Girls’ Basketball: Forestview Continues Toward Perfection
Going undefeated for an entire season is a rare accomplishment, especially in high school basketball, where the seasons stretch to sometimes more than 30 games. To win every night takes a lot of skill and even some luck.
Forestview coach Kenneth Beaty knows of a couple additional factors that have helped his squad to a 29-0 mark entering Friday’s NC 3A Western Regional semifinal game against Statesville (28-2).
“No injuries and playing as a team,” Beaty points out matter-of-factly.
The two teams square off at 7 p.m. at Winston-Salem Atkins High School.
Beaty’s team has beaten some top opponents along the way. The Jaguars sent Hickory home with its first loss of the season and dealt Skyland Roberson just its second loss of the season.
“Statesville is a very solid team,” Beaty said. “They have a record of 28-2. They have a great point guard (Keyrra Gillespie) and a guard (Shaneka Harvey) who shoots the three very well.”
Forestview’s go-to player is West Virginia signee Jessica Capers. The Jaguars’ post player is averaging nearly 18 points per game.
All-Star Game Rosters Announced
North Carolina is sending some of its top high school boys and girls basketball players to Charlotte for the Carolina Classic All-Star Game against South Carolina.
The games will be played Saturday, April 5 at Bobcats Arena.
Rosters have been released and the lineups for North Carolina are star-studded ones.
Here’s the boys’ rosters:
North Carolina
E.J. Abrams-Ward, Thomasville
Petey Hausley, McDowell County (Appalachian State signee)
Donovan ‘Bo’ Ingram, Kinston
Reginald Johnson, Winston-Salem Prep (University of Miami)
Hunter McClintock, Northern Durham
Daniel Nieman, Concord
Malik Stith, East Mecklenburg
Ty Walker, New Hanover (Wake Forest)
C.J. Williams, Jack Britt (N.C. State)
South Carolina
Zyccorian Robinson, Spartanburg
Sterling Council, Camden
Will Dawkins, Dorman
Lashay Page, Dillon
A.J. Green, Summerville (University of Georgia football signee)
Kiara Douglas, Darlington
Chalmers Rogers, Fort Mill
Bryan Narcisse, North Augusta (Western Kentucky)
Steadman Short, Hillcrest (High Point)
Murphy Holloway, Dutch Fork (Ole Miss)
The girls’ rosters:
North Carolina
Jean Best, Wilson Beddingfield (East Carolina)
Brittani Billups, Eastern Wayne (Longwood)
Jessica Capers, Forestview (West Virginia)
Whitley Cutler, North Surry
Jasmine Gill, Greensboro Page (Boston College)
Nicole Hargraves, Greensboro Grimsley (Charlotte)
Terrica Jones, Wake Forest-Rolesville
Trumae Lucas, Greensboro Grimsley (University of Florida)
Secily Ray, Thomasville (Wake Forest)
Paquita Wingate, Hunter Huss
South Carolina
RubyLee Wright, Latta (Georgetown)
Ashley Clark, Myrtle Beach (East Carolina)
Schwanna Dunmore, C.E. Murray
Shavonna Seymore, Hartsville
LaShana Booker, Dorman
Miteka Trueheart, Lancaster
Chelsey Peterson, Dutch Fork
Seneca Turner, Broome
Tierra Young, Spartanburg
Branshea Brown, Colleton County
Last year, North Carolina swept the two-game event. The boys won, 83-78, and the girls won by 76-60.
Ken Bradley, a former sports editor and writer in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, covers the Charlotte, N.C., area for MaxPreps.com. He may be reached at kbradley14@yahoo.com
