Three Cumberland County Schools basketball teams still have a shot at the state 3-A championship this season, and one is guaranteed to be in the finals.
In Tuesday’s NCHSAA regionals in Winston-Salem’s Joel Coliseum, the boys from Seventy-First (27-2) and Westover (29-1) will meet at 4 p.m. to decide the Eastern representative in Friday’s state title game.
Meanwhile, Terry Sanford’s girls (25-5) will also be in action at the same venue, taking on perennial power South Central (28-2) at 6 p.m. for a shot at Friday’s girls’ 3-A title game.
Joel Coliseum ticket gates open at noon and doors open at 1 p.m. Parking lots also open at noon and the cost is $10, payable with cash or card. Tickets are $10 plus a Ticketmaster processing fee. To purchase tickets online go to Ticketmaster.com and search for LJVM, the abbreviation for Joel Coliseum. Make sure and buy tickets for the 3-A championships.
All concession stands at Joel Coliseum are cashless.
Here’s a look at the matchups for county teams:
Seventy-First vs. Westover boys
This will be the third meeting of the season between the teams. They split the first two. Seventy-First took the first game 59-57 with Westover winning the rematch 70-59.
To say the teams are familiar with each other is an understatement, a familiarity that extends off the court onto the team benches.
Westover head coach George Stackhouse used to have Seventy-First coach Jeremy Ingram on his Wolverine staff. In fact, the two took the 2020 Wolverines to the state finals and a co-championship when the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of all championship games that season.
“He knows us and he knows our players,’’ Stackhouse said of Ingram. “They do a lot of things that we do.’’
Stackhouse added having two Fayetteville teams advance this far shows Fayetteville basketball is in solid shape and that the area has good talent.
Ingram indicated there’s no way to get around how much the teams know about each other and no chance at this late hour to make major adjustments in playing style.
“You’ve got to adjust to them knowing what you do,’’ he said. “Just play through and stick to what you know.’’
Stackhouse feels the game will come down to execution, who makes their game plan work the best.
He does have some concern about how the teams will adjust to playing in a larger arena like Joel Coliseum. “Most of them have never played on a Division I college court,’’ he said.
Ingram said it will also be an adjustment for both teams playing in the late afternoon versus night. “That’s out of whack for varsity basketball,’’ he said. “Our bodies are usually ready to play at a certain time. But I think it’s even and fair play.’’
Westover’s scoring leader is senior guard Ari Fulton at 19.1 points per game. He’s also tops in rebounding at 10.9 and the leading playmaker with 2.5 assists per game.
The No. 2 scorer is Malachi Allen at 13.9.
Senior guard Mylon Campbell leads the Falcons with 15.4 points per contest. DeAndre Nance, star of the Seventy-First football team, is second at 10.5.
Nance is also the top rebounder with 5.0 per game. Jacquez Foster leads in assists with 2.6.
Seventy-First is riding a 16-game winning streak since the Westover loss. Westover has won 23 in a row since the pre-Christmas loss to the Falcons.
Terry Sanford vs. South Central girls
The top worry for Terry Sanford coach Chris Goodman is getting his team down from the emotional high of beating a tough Cape Fear team on the road in their playoff game last Friday.
But while Goodman agrees it was a huge win for his team, he added his players were focused on the ultimate prize. “Our goal has alwasy been to make it to Winston-Salem since the beginning of the season,’’ he said. “That was just another game that we had to win in order to get where we wanted to be.’’
Another ingredient in the Bulldog journey to Winston-Salem was a non-conference schedule dotted with some tough opponents, a number of them on the road.
“We wanted to play in those hostile environments and against those high level players,’’ Goodman said.
He pointed to North Pitt as an example, a 2-A team that the Bulldogs beat 64-53 in their opener.
North Pitt is led by high school All-American Zamareya Jones, who is averaging 25 points per game, and led her team to a berth in the 2-A women’s semifinals on Wednesday.
“North Pitt has the No. 15 player in the country going to N.C. State,’’ Goodman said. “We wanted to play that elite level competition (non-conference) so once the playoffs hit we had seen it before. It wasn’t our first time seeing elite competition or being on the big stage.’’
Goodman said he’s not focused much on South Central so far, but he’s concerned the Falcons may be seeking revenge as Terry Sanford knocked them out in the third round of last year’s playoffs by a 66-58 score.
“This is a team that is familiar with us and we’re familiar with them,’’ Goodman said. “I think it’ll be exciting. We’re blessed to be in this situation and have this opportunity.’’
Unlike some, Goodman isn’t complaining about the new venue for the NCHSAA regional and championship rounds and is glad the association tried to fix the problem it had last year when fans were turned away at some state playoff locations.
“Maybe this is the answer, maybe it’s not,’’ he said. “Our goal is to win a state championship. Wherever we are playing, whoever we are playing, we are just going out to execute and try to reach our goal.’’
Terry Sanford has won 13 in a row since a neutral court loss to Quality Education Academy of Winston-Salem on Jan. 27.
Breonna Roaf is Terry Sanford’s top scorer with 13.9 points per game. Ameya Brown and Jaidiah Blake follow at 12.3 and 11.0 respectively.
Blake leads in rebounding with 9.6 per contest. Roaf is also the leading playmaker with 7.3 assists a contest.
South Central is led by Brooklynne Evans with 14.5 points a contest. Sabraya Baker averages 11.1. Evans is also the top rebounder with 11.9. Jaidyn Boswell leads in assists with 3.8.