Most of North Carolina's top teams were at the 39th GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational in Raleigh, but they were no match for
Norcom (Portsmouth, Va.). The 3-A Virginia state champion traveled south and beat three of the Tar Heel State's best to win the prestigious GSK title at Broughton High School.
Virginia Tech-bound
Dorian Finney-Smith took MVP honors after getting 14 points and 12 rebounds in the championship game, a 71-47 win over United Faith Christian Academy (Charlotte).
United Faith was the defending champions of the event and featured East Carolina-bound shooting guard
Paris Roberts-Campbell and two of the country's best juniors, undeclared guard
Braxton Ogbueze and 6-foot-11 center
Peter Jurkin, who has committed to Indiana.
Video of Peter JurkinThe best game may have been in the first round. Word of God Christian Academy (Raleigh) held a 20-point halftime lead, but Norcom chipped away and finally tied the game on a free throw by Finney-Smith with six-tenths of a second left.
As exciting as the comeback was, the extra session was anticlimactic. Norcom held the ball for the first three and a half minutes of overtime, until Devin Patterson was fouled and made two free throws. Those were the only points in overtime as Norcom won 64-62.
"I told them, ‘Nothing but lay-ups,'" Norcom coach Leon Goolsby said on the tournament Web site. "If they had a drive, take it and make sure you get fouled."
N.C. State commitment
Joseph Uchebo, who finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds for Word of God, missed a layup with 6 seconds left that could have extended the game.
Norcom's semifinal wasn't as close. The Greyhounds defeated Westchester Country Day (High Point) 65-37, containing Baylor-bound guard
Deuce Bello (11 points) and Cleveland State-bound
Ike Nwamu (13 points).
IN-STATE BATTLESWhile Norcom kept advancing, that left plenty of games featuring the top talent in the state playing against each other.
In the semifinals, ECU-bound Roberts-Campbell had 29 points as United Faith defeated Christ School (Arden), the four-time defending Independent Schools 3A state champion, 68-48.
Christ School recovered in the third-place game. Duke recruit
Marshall Plumlee had 21 points and 11 rebounds and BYU-bound
Damarcus Harrison had 20 points and eight rebounds in a 62-51 win over Westchester Country Day.
FOCUS IN THE MIDDLEPlumlee will follow brothers Mason and Marshall to Duke. One of the most fascinating aspects of the GSK Invitational was seeing him match up against some other top center prospects, junior Indiana commitment
Peter Jurkin and Georgetown-bound senior
Tyler Adams.
Interestingly, both times the post player with the better statistics ended up getting blown out on the scoreboard.
Plumlee had 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks against Jurkin (seven points, six rebounds, three blocks), though United Faith won the game 68-48.
Against Adams — who could have been a future teammate until he decommitted from Duke in the fall — Plumlee had nine points and six rebounds while his Brandon (Miss.) counterpart had 21 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. But Christ School won that game 70-46.
SHAVLIK RANDOLPH INVITATIONALIn the other eight-team bracket at the GSK Invitational,
Ravenscroft (Raleigh) defeated Middle Creek (Apex) 57-52.
Anton Gill earned MVP honors after scoring 16 points in the final while guarding Middle Creek's top offensive player,
Leon Hargrove. The 6-foot-2 Gill is considered one of the top sophomores in the state.
Hargrove scored 21 points for Middle Creek, which trailed by 18 after three quarters but had a chance for a tying 3-pointer with 13 seconds left. That's
when point guard
Madison Jones forced a turnover a seal Ravenscroft's first GSK title.
The team celebrated by dumping Gatorade on coach Kevin Billerman, a former guard at Duke.
"I think they were as excited to do this as they were to be in the championship," Billerman told the Raleigh News & Observer.
Harold Gutmann covers the state of North Carolina for MaxPreps.com. He lives in Durham and can be reached at haroldgutmann@gmail.com.
