CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — West Charlotte coach Baronton Terry called a half-dozen Raleigh-area coaches to get a tape of
Millbrook (Raleigh), his opponent in the NCHSAA 4A title game. None of the coaches gave him the tape, but they did provide a verbal scouting report.
"They're going to press you, they're going to put pressure, the game's going to be ugly," Terry said he was told. "I knew the game was going to be rough."
When the teams met Saturday night at the Dean E. Smith Center at UNC, Millbrook did force 27 turnovers, but West Charlotte made 30 of 45 free throws and outrebounded the Wildcats by 13 in a 78-69 win.
Six-foot-8 sophomore Kennedy Meeks had 19 rebounds, the fourth-highest total in a championship game since records started being kept in 1986, and Mike Brown had 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Lions (28-2).
It was the fifth title in school history for West Charlotte, who won its first in 1986 when the tournament first moved to Chapel Hill. Its most recent title came 12 years ago.
Millbrook (22-10), who overcame a six-game losing streak earlier this season to make its first finals appearance, was down by 23 with five minutes left in the third quarter before mounting a comeback. A 31-point fourth quarter cut the deficit to eight with 50 seconds left, but the Wildcats wouldn't score again.
Karon Blount had 12 points and nine rebounds for Millbrook.
Current Miami center Reginald Johnson has the rebounding record, grabbing 23 for Winston-Salem Prep in 2008.
3A: Jihad Wright's free throw with three seconds left gave
Huss (Gastonia) a 63-62 win over
South Central (Winterville) at N.C. State.
South Central was attempting to win both the boys and girls basketball titles, but the Falcons went scoreless for the last three minutes as the Huskies scored the final five points.
Freshman Kerrion Moore hit a 3-pointer with 2:06 remaining and then made a free throw to tie the game with 20 seconds left. Moore missed his second free throw, but Wright grabbed the rebound and eventually was fouled, making 1 of 2 from the line.
The Falcons inbounded the ball with 2.3 seconds left but stepped out-of-bounds near midcourt and never got off a final shot.
Moore scored a game-high 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting for the Huskies (29-2). Gardner-Webb signee Donta Harper had 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Falcons (26-6).
Neither team led by more than six in a back-and-forth matchup that served as the final game for Huss coach Ron Bray, who began his career in 1969 and announced earlier in the year that this would be his final season.
Huss improved to 3-0 in the finals, having won in 1977 and 1985.
2A: Playing in its first-ever final,
East Rutherford (Forest City) scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter and held on to defeat
Northwood (Pittsboro) 58-56 at UNC.
Down by four entering the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers held Northwood scoreless for the next seven minutes — forcing six turnovers — and eventually took the lead on a dunk by MVP Devince Boykins with 2:34 remaining.
Boykins, who is headed to Marshall, had a game-high 16 points and added nine rebounds to earn MVP honors. His alley-oop dunk off a pass from Zack Price extended the lead to 55-49 with 52 seconds left.
East Rutherford finished 27-1 — its only loss was a two-point defeat at Freedom (Morganton) in January.
Antonio Farmer had 10 points and 12 rebounds and Juan Young had 15 points and five assists for the Chargers (28-5), who also lost in the finals in '09.
1A: Fresh off a double-overtime win in the semifinals,
North Rowan (Spencer) overcame a 19-point deficit late in the second quarter to defeat
Pender (Burgaw) 64-57 at N.C. State and win its second state title.
Samuel Starks had 19 points and four steals for the Cavaliers (27-5), whose previous championship came in 1986.
Addison Spruill had 32 points and 17 rebounds for Pender (24-5), who was in the final for the first time in 23 years.
A tip-in by Spruill gave Pender a 35-16 lead with 2:25 left in the second quarter, but the Patriots were outscored 39-18 in the second half.
Timothy Bates II shot just 1-of-10, but his lone field goal was a jumper that gave North Rowan its first lead at 53-52 with 4:03 left, and the Cavaliers never relinquished the lead.
North Rowan graduate Andrew Mitchell won in his first year coaching at his alma mater.
Harold Gutmann covers the state of North Carolina for MaxPreps.com. He lives in Durham and can be reached at haroldgutmann@gmail.com.
