Saturday’s Boys Roundup: No. 4 Butler stops No. 8 Cannon in OT at Hoops Challenge

Butler High boys basketball coach Myron Lowery said he put together the most difficult schedule he’s ever had for one reason: he wanted his Bulldogs to be tested by great teams early so they would be ready for the state playoffs in March.

Butler, which lost to Southwest Guilford in the N.C. 4A semifinals last season, got what Lowery wanted Friday: an overtime game with one of the region’s best teams.

Butler got a 3-point shot from Bashie Muhammad with 7.3 seconds left in overtime to beat Cannon School and national top 100 recruit Jairus Hamilton 73-72 at the Charlotte Hoops Challenge. The Bulldogs (2-0) are No. 4 in the Observer’s Sweet 16 poll. Cannon (2-3) is No. 8. The Cougars have lost three straight.

“It’s a huge win,” Lowery said. “Just huge. No. 1 because that’s a really good team; and No. 2, they have an elite player in Hamilton. Anytime there’s public versus private, too, there’s always something special there.”

Hamilton finished with 27 points, eight rebounds for Cannon, which was in position to win several times. Late in regulation, the Cougars were up three points and at the free throw line, but they missed both shots. Butler got the second miss and DJ Little, a Queens signee, hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

In overtime, Little (23 points, two assists, 4-for-11 from 3-point range) and New Orleans signee Gerrale Gates (25 points, 12 rebounds) fouled out. But Butler still hung on.

“Gerrale was huge,” Lowery said. “He was tremendous on offense and defnse. He and Hamilton just went back and forth, and they had us so many times, just right by the throat, but we just kept on fighting.”

▪ Butler got 13 points, four assists from Raquan Brown. Cannon got 21 points from Qon Murpy and 14 from Alon Parker.

Links to more content

Game Story: No. 1 Cox Mill, Wendell Moore, take down No. 2 Providence Day at Charlotte Hoops Challenge

Game Story: No. 2 Ardrey Kell girls, sparked by a freshman, stop No. 1 Mallard Creek

Saturday’s boys high school basketball capsules

Saturday’s girls high school basketball capsules

Saturday’s girls high school basketball roundup with #BIG5, Elevator, game stories, more

Elevator

↑Freddy Johnson, Greensboro Day: Legendary Bengals coach won his 1,000th game Saturday against Vance. Greensboro Day won 59-28 at the Bobby Martin Classic in Winston-Salem. Johnson, 63, is the 20th high school basketball coach to win 1,000 games. Johnson, who has nine state titles, is 1,000-283 in 41 years and has coached 57 college basketball players. This year’s Bengals (8-0) are No. 18 nationally by MaxPreps and play Providence Day Tuesday.

↑Trey Jemison, Hoover (AL): Clemson signee had 14 points, six assists and two steals in a 59-58 win over Jenkins. Jemison, a 6-foot-11, 235-pound senior will join Piedmont’s Hunter Tyson and Greensboro Day’s John Newman at Clemson next season. Jemison chose the Tigers over schools like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Harvard and Vanderbilt.

↑Concord First Assembly defense: At the Charlotte Hoops Challenge, CFA got 11 steals in a 69-62 upset of Sweet 16 No. 7 Kings Mountain. First Assembly held Kings Mountain to 39 percent field goal shooting.

↑Ian Steere, Fayetteville Northwood Temple: N.C. State signee led his team to a 61-48 win over York Prep at the Charlotte Hoosp Challenge. Steere, a 6-foot-9 power forward, had 21 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks.

↑Lincoln Charter: 1A NCHSAA state champs beat reigning 4A state champ Southwest Guilford 99-94 in double overtime. Eagles starting guards Kody Shubert and Levontae Knox fouled out in regulation. Lincoln Charter is 6-0. Southwest fell to 0-1. Knox led Lincoln Charter with 26 points and London England had 22.

↑North Mecklenburg: Vikings got 21 points from tournament MVP Jae’Lyn Withers and 18 from Tristan Maxwell to beat Charlotte Country Day 81-51 in the finals of the Leroy Holden Challenge. The Vikings, No. 3 in the Observer’s Sweet 16, played without starting all-conference senior point guard Vaud Worthy, who banged an opponent’s knee with his knee in the semifinals and sat out due to soreness.

↑Holden Challenge All-Tournament Team: Rylan McLaurin, Alex Tabor, and DeAngelo Epps, Charlotte Country Day; Chris Ford, Jae’Lyn Withers, Tristan Maxwell, North Mecklenburg

Saturday’s #BIG5 Performers

Gerrale Gates, DJ Little, Butler: Gates had 25 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and a steal in a 73-72 overtime win over Cannon at the Charlotte Hoops Challenge. He’s signed to New Orleans. Little, a Queens signee, had 23 points, four rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal.

Donovan Gregory, Carmel Christian: 31 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in a 71-67 win over St. Francis Academy at the Holiday Hoopsgiving tournament in Georgia.

Wendell Moore Jr., Cox Mill: National top 30 recruit in the class of 2019 sparked a 64-59 win over Providence Day in a battle of the two top ranked teams in the Observer’s Sweet 16 poll. Moore had 27 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks.

JC Tharrington, Blake Preston, Charlotte Christian: Tharrington made 6-of-9 3-point attempts Saturday in a 75-47 win over Holy Innocents Epsicopal at the Holiday Hoopsgiving event in Georgia. Tharrington finished with 24 points and nine assists. Preston, a Liberty signee, had 14 points and 13 rebounds. For the weekend, Preston averaged 16 points, 17 rebounds and 5.5 blocks.

Mike Wynn, Charlotte Liberty Heights: Wynn, a 6-6 senior ECU signee, made 9-of-13 field goal attempts and 6-of-9 free throws in a 76-67 win over United Faith at the Charlotte Hoops Challenge. He finished with 25 points, six assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Saturday’s Roundup

No. 5 Charlotte Christian 75, Holy Innocents Episcopal 47: Seth Bennett and Efosa E-Udosomwan had 11 points each for the Knights in an easy win. Christian outscored Holy Innocents 25-6 in the fourth quarter. Matthew Meadows finished with 14 for Holy Innocents (1-3). Christian improved to 4-0.

Concord First Assembly 69, No. 7 Kings Mountain 62: Stephen Edoka had 25 points, four rebounds and a steal in the win. Concord First Assembly shot 52 percent from the field and got 14 points from Strahinja Rajic and 13 points and five rebounds from Bailey Benham. Kings Mountain, which made 6-of-26 3-point attempts, was led by 18 points and eight rebounds from App State recruit Adrian Delph. First Assembly starter Jimmy LeProvost sat out the game with a concussion

Carmel Christian 71, St. Francis (GA) Academy 67: Carmel Christian improved to 7-0 with the win over St. Francis (2-1) at the Holiday Hoopsgiving event. Carmel Christian forced 21 turnovers and overcame being out-rebounded 41-33. Myles Pierre had 11 points, three steals and two rebounds for Carmel. Dwon Odom, a 6-3 sophomore point guard, led St. Francis with 20 points. Odom is being recruited by Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Charlotte Liberty Heights 76, United Faith 67: Liberty Heights shot 52 percent and held United Faith to 35 percent shooting in a comfortable win. Senior Chris Martin had 17 points, three rebounds and two steals for Liberty Heights. He also made 9-of-10 free throws. D’Marco Baucom added 12 points and five rebounds. United Faith (2-3) got 20 pints, three rebounds from 6-6 senior forward Brett Swilling and 18 points, eight rebounds, four steals from 6-8 senior KC Hankton, who was battling a sore back.

Greensboro Day 59, Vance 28: The nationally ranked Bengals limited Vance to four points in the first quarter, seven in the second and six in the third. Vance shot 11-for-42 for the game. Ralph Black had seven points and Donald Hill six to lead the Cougars.

Hoover (AL) 59, Jenkins (GA) 58: Clemson recruit Trey Jemison, a 6-foot-10 senior, had 14 points, six assists, two steals and a block in a close win at the Charlotte Hoops Challenge. Teammate Jamari Blackmon had 28 points, on 11-for-17 shooting, to with five rebounds, three steals and two assists. He made 4-of-8 3-point attempts. Jenkins got 19 points from Tre’ Mays, who made 5-of-7 3-point attempts and 14 points from Matthews Sams. As a team, Jenkins shot 10-for-21 from 3-point range.

This story was originally published November 26, 2017 at 12:39 AM with the headline "Saturday’s Boys Roundup: No. 4 Butler stops No. 8 Cannon in OT at Hoops Challenge."