Seventy-First’s boys and Terry Sanford’s girls both realized the ultimate wish Tuesday of advancing to this year’s NCHSAA 3-A state championship basketball games.
But Friday at Winston-Salem’s Lawrence Joel Coliseum they will both be facing huge obstacles in their respective title bids.
Seventy-First takes on defending 3-A state champion Central Cabarrus while Terry Sanford meets defending 3-A winner West Rowan.
Terry Sanford plays first at 3:30 p.m. with Seventy-First taking the court in the final game of the night at 8:30 p.m.
Here’s a preview of the matchups:
BOYS
Seventy-First (28-2) vs. Central Cabarrus (32-0)
Central Cabarrus has lost one game in three seasons, compiling back-to-back 32-0 records and preceding that with a 30-1 mark when their only loss was to West Charlotte in the state finals.
Falcon head coach Jeremy Ingram said his team got to play Central Cabarrus in preseason, and watched some of their win over Hickory in Tuesday’s 3-A West Regional semifinal.
Ingram said everybody on the Central Cabarrus team plays hard, even the reserves.
“There’s never a fall off,’’ Ingram said. “That’s normally when teams go wrong, when they have a fall off in energy or whatever they do.’’
When Seventy-First last met Central Cabarrus, Ingram said he had a young squad reeling from the loss of 10 seniors from 2022-23. “We were a brand new team and they weren’t,’’ he said. He feels Central Cabarrus has improved a little since that early Falcon loss, but he thinks his young Seventy-First team has improved a lot.
“The team they saw isn’t the team they are going to see Friday night,’’ Ingram said.
He also feels it’s a plus that Seventy-First has already seen the arena where the championship will be played, unlike the old days in the NCHSAA where teams won a regional title in one facility, then moved to a much larger venue for the state title game.
“I guess it’s a great thing for the guys,’’ he said. “I’m really excited to see the guys step up to the moment in that big arena.’’
He hopes the city of Fayetteville will turn out to support the Falcons and Terry Sanford’s girls in the two championship games.
“At the end of the day we have a girls team and boys team playing for a state championship out of Fayetteville,’’ he said. “It will be good for the kids.’’
PLAYERS TO WATCH
In its 87-78 win over Hickory, Central was led by Desmond Kent Jr.’s 25 points and Carson Daniel’s 22. Kent also grabbed eight rebounds.
Seventy-First had a huge performance from Jacquez Foster in its win over county rival Westover. Foster scored 25 points, hitting 8 of 14 shots from the floor.
Mylon Campbell and DeAndre Nance also hit double figures, 13 and 12 points respectively.
Nance led the Falcons in rebounding with nine.
GIRLS
Terry Sanford (26-5) vs. West Rowan (30-1)
West Rowan has the same kind of pedigree as Central Cabarrus. They are 30-1 this year, 31-0 last year.
“They are a super disciplined team,’’ said Terry Sanford coach Chris Goodman. “Well coached.’’
West Rowan coach Ashley Poole has been with most of the players on her team since their middle school days.
“She’s built that program truly from the bottom up,’’ Goodman said. “They play well together. It’s a solid team.’’
It’s also a relatively small team in terms of numbers. According to the boxscore from the 3-A West final with Asheville Reynolds, West Rowan only used six players in its 66-54 win.
Goodman said most of this season he’s used a deeper bench with nine or 10 players in each game. That’s why he hopes to play at a faster pace and try to take advantage of the longer college court at Joel Coliseum.
“If we can speed the game up, keep the pace high, that will give us an opportunity to come out on top,’’ he said.
He also thinks the pressure will be on West Rowan with the focus on repeating as champion.
“I’m not too concerned about the pressure, just making sure we keep the same kind of routine we’ve been doing,’’ he said. “The basketball is the same size, the goals are the same size. I told the girls just go out and be us and compete.’’
PLAYERS TO WATCH
West Rowan’s balance was obvious in the win over Reynolds. The Falcons were two points short of having five players score in double figures.
Tiara Thompson led the way with 17, followed by Emma Clarke with 14 and Demya Phifer and Mya Edwards with 12 each. Clarke and Edwards led balanced rebounding with seven and six respectively.
In their 58-50 win over South Central, the Bulldogs were also balanced with four in double figures. Ameya Brown led with 16. Rebecca Kaba had 14, Breonna Roaf 13 and Jaidiah Blake 11.
The Bulldogs had dominating rebounding numbers against South Central. Roaf grabbed 13, Taleah Meadows 12 and Kaba 10.
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