South Central historically dominant in NCHSAA state final win over West Charlotte

It simply was not West Charlotte’s day.

With star forward Patrick Williams visibly ill, the Lions struggled shooting the ball in a 72-46 loss to nationally ranked Winterville South Central in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A championship game at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum.

It the largest margin of victory ever in the state 4A final. It topped the previous mark of 24 points set in 2017 when Southwest Guilford beat Raleigh Leesville Road.

“I feel like we played a really good team today,” West Charlotte coach Jacoby Davis said. “And we didn’t do anything we expected to do. I didn’t think we would have a problem scoring today, but we did. Some of that is our fault. We took bad shots. We were not disciplined at all.”

South Central jumped on the Lions from the start, racing to a 12-2 lead. West Charlotte never got close. The Lions got plenty of open shots, but couldn’t make them. West Charlotte shot 18-of-60 from the field, including 3-for-21 from the 3-point line.

“We were just beating ourselves up and down the line,” Lions senior Cartier Jernigan said. “You see shots not falling and it just gets mentally tough. It was nothing they did. We just beat ourselves tonight.”

West Charlotte lost in its second straight state final. The Lions lost to Wilmington New Hanover in the 2012 state final, also at N.C. State.

Prior to that, the Lions had won their previous five NCHSAA championship games, which were held at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

Overall, counting two N.C. High School Athletic conference state titles it won in the ‘60s, West Charlotte is 7-3 in championship games.

THREE WHO MATTERED

▪ Day’ron Sharpe, South Central: UNC recruit Day’ron Sharpe, a 6-foot-10 junior, dominated inside, totaling seven dunks in front of Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, who sat courtside. Sharpe finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds. He made 9-of-15 shots and was named championship game MVP.

▪ Patrick Williams, West Charlotte: Florida State signee scored 14 of his 18 points after halftime. He made 7-of-15 shots and had five rebounds, two blocks and assists. He also had three huge dunks.

▪ Jahzeer Baker, South Central: Finished with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

NOTES

▪ Sharpe said he didn’t know that UNC coach Roy Williams was at the game. Williams, whose team lost to Duke in Friday’s ACC Tournament semifinals, sat at press row courtside, directly in front of the South Central bench. Williams wore a Carolina blue pullover.

“He was here?” Sharpe said. “I didn’t know. I was just playing my game. The atmosphere was crazy.”

Asked if Williams noticed him, Sharpe giggled.

“Yeah,” he said, “I think he did.”

▪ South Central outrebounded West Charlotte 44-35 and shot 45 percent for the game, despite just one of 11 3-point attempts. The Falcons also had more assists than West Charlotte (12 to seven), more steals (8-2) and fewer turnovers (7-10).

▪ The Lions’ Patrick Williams said, health-wise, he was a “six out of 10” and fell in shortly before last week’s semifinal win over Winston-Salem Reynolds. He said his lungs were burning as he tried to run up and down the court Saturday.

“I was trying to push through it,” Williams said. “This whole week, I was taking medicine, but that medicine kind of drains you. But no excuse. You’ve got to charge that to the game. You’re not going to be 100 percent every game. You won’t make shots every game.”

RECORDS: South Central, ranked No. 6 in USA Today’s national poll, finished the season at 30-1. West Charlotte finished 25-7.

WORTH MENTIONING: With its record and national ranking, South Central would likely have been in discussion for a bid to the GEICO high school basketball national championships in New York, but NCHSAA rules prevent member schools from attending.

West Charlotte 6-13-12-15 — 46

South Central 17-18-15-22 — 72

WEST CHARLOTTE 46 — Jernigan 4, Patrick Williams 18, Magness 5, Quinten Thomas 13, Dow 2, Terrell 1, Harris 3

SOUTH CENTRAL 72 — Shykeim Phillips 12, Jahzeer Baker 18, Jones 2, Lewis 6, Day’ron Sharpe 23, Williams 7, Chen 2, Lassister 2

This story was originally published March 16, 2019 at 1:44 PM.