Saturday Rewind: 5 area teams go dancing to North Carolina state finals
According to North Mecklenburg High boys basketball coach Duane Lewis, there were 40 former Viking players in the stands watching North Mecklenburg beat Olympic 86-78 in Saturday’s N.C. 4A Western Regional championship game.
Lewis said that’s exactly the type of program he’s always wanted to build: one where the players always come back.
In 1999, Lewis replaced NCHSAA Hall of Fame legend Leroy Holden at North. Holden had led the Vikings to the 1987 state championship and had more than 400 wins worth of success, but Lewis and his family first formula have taken the program to greater heights.
Lewis and North Mecklenburg were one of several Observer-area teams to advance to state finals Saturday:
Newton-Conover and Vance’s girls moved to the championship round; Newton-Conover for the first time since 1992, and Vance for the first time since 2003.
Boys teams from Freedom and Shelby will play for state championships next week, too.
For North Meck, it’s been awhile since the Vikings have played for the ring.
Lewis led North Meck to its first state championship in 2005 and took the team back to the finals in 2006. Under his watch, North Mecklenburg has often been nationally ranked, like now, and considered among the state title favorites, like now.
But that’s not what Lewis is worried about.
He loves moments like Saturday, when former players come back, and he loves talking about his three seniors -- Tristan Maxwell, Shamann Artis and Trayden Williams -- who will play college basketball and get a four-year education for free.
“I don’t gauge myself off winning the state championship,” Lewis said. “I gauge myself on these three kids going to college. They’re going for free. And we’re trying to make better men and better players. We feel like if you come to North, you’re going to get better because we work hard every day.”
Lewis said he had a conversation with Williams, his star point guard, at the beginning of the season that rung true to him after Saturday’s win.
“If you win the state championship,” Lewis said, “that’s great. I told Trayden at the start of the year, I sat him down and I was like, ‘Hey, if we win it that’s good but I’m not worried about that. I could really care less when people talk about that. If all three of y’all (seniors) qualify and go to college, that’s what I’m about. That’s what North Mecklenburg basketball is about.’ If you value yourself off winning a championship all the time, you’re short-changing yourself.”
Lewis said what will make him just as happy as winning a ring is looking up, five years down the road, and seeing his three seniors in the stands just like he looked up and saw so many former players there Saturday.
“They’ll be coming back to watch us play,” Lewis said, “and hopefully I’ll still be here and we’ll keep doing it the North Meck way.”
On Lumberton High, North Meck’s state final opponent
Lumberton (26-5) has won five straight games for first-year coach Bryant Edwards and is enjoying its best season in at least 15 years. Jordan McNeil, a 6-foot senior guard, is leading the Pirates in the postseason, averaging 20.3 points per game.
In a 66-47 semifinal win over Pinecrest, McNeill had 27 points, nine rebounds, three assists and was 14-of-21 at the free throw line.
Lumberton has two players 6-foot-4 or taller -- sophomore Kenstall Skipper, who is 6-4 and senior Michael Todd who is 6-5. This year, Lumberton reached the state semifinals for the first time since 1964. It will make its first state finals appearance against nationally ranked North Mecklenburg.
“Honestly,” North Meck coach Duane Lewis said after his team won the Western Regional title Saturday, “I know nothing about Lubmerton. I’m a guy who zones in on the one right now. We’ll get home and hopefully we’ll celebrate and then I start to try to find out what I can about Lumberton, but I’ve always had this belief: we’ve got to worry about us. I know Lumberton has to be really good to have made it through the Millbrooks, the Leesville Roads, the teams that are so talented on that (eastern) side.”
Quick Links
North Meck rolls past Olympic, to state title game (photos, videos)
Vance gets get what they wanted, blow out Mallard Creek (photos, videos)
Saturday’s regional championship scores, state championship pairings
Tristan Maxwell, son of Vernon, making a name for himself at North Meck
Freedom boys, hold off Hunter Huss, advance to 3A finals
Missed opportunities derail Freedom’s girls bid for unbeaten season
Shelby hands Forest Hills its first loss
Elevator
↓Crowds and venues: Great to see the monster crowds for the regionals, but an old problem that used to come up in HIckory previously showed up again: the venues are just not big enough. The state association should look at a return to Greensboro or Winston-Salem or Charlotte, where the Charlotte 49ers facilities would be great for this event (or a state football or basketball state final for that matter).
↑Crowds: Crowds at Lenoir-Rhyne were amazing, and vocal. The NCHSAA also did a great job at putting the right games at the larger venue instead of at Catawba Valley Community College, where gym size would’ve been an even bigger issue.
↑Shelby: Golden Lions ended Forest Hills’ unbeaten season and have a shot to win 2A basketball and 2A football state titles in the same school year.
↑I-MECk 4A conference: Vance won the 4A football title. Now the Vance girls will for a 4A title as well. North Meck’s boys also in the finals.
The Best Things I Heard About Saturday
▪ North Meck senior Shamann Artis may not have saved the season in Saturday’s 86-78 win over Olympic, but he certainly made it easier. The Vikings (30-1) had watched a 23-point fourth quarter lead get trimmed to five. Olympic’s Jalen Small drove in for what looked like a sure layup. Artis chased him down, blocked the shot and the ricochet led to a run-out layup for senior guard Trayden Williams.
What could’ve been a 75-72 one possession game with just under two minutes left became 77-70. Artis finished with that big block, 17 points, four steals, three assists and two rebounds. He made 5-of-8 3-point attempts.
“With Shamann,” North Meck coach Duane Lewis said, “he’s been this consistent for us all year long. He’s a. threat on that 3-point line, but he’s also unbelievable in transition. (He’s an) underrated defender. That block he made, he’s probably made 10 of those this year. He made some in the last playoff game, or the one before. He just has that knack that lot of kids don’t have.”
▪Vance’s girls put on a defensive clinic in a 72-42 win over Mallard Creek in the 4A semifinals. The Cougars played zone -- 2-3 and 1-3-1 -- and Kyanna Morgan was a pest at the top of it. Vance’s zone was aggressive and in a man-to-man world, the Cougars proved that the ol’ zone can still be effective.
▪ The deeper you go into the high school playoffs, the dream of a state championship becomes more and more real. That reality hit Hunter Huss coach Walter Wallace. Wallace watched his team miss two really good layup attempts roll off the rim at end of a 58-56 loss to Freedom in the 3A semifinals.
Afterwards, Wallace tried to put his feelings into words. They came out perfectly.
Wallace said he would “take it to my grave, that I couldn’t get this team there (to the state finals).” He fought back tears.
“It’s crushing.”
Saturday’s #BIG5 Top Boys Performers
Deshaun Christopher, Shelby: 23 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in a 68-63 win over Forest Hills that ended the Yellow Jackets’ bid for a third straight state finals appearance. Teammate Tyler Arrington had 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
James Freeman, Freedom: 6-4 senior guard had 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists and the game-winning bucket in a win over Hunter Huss in the 3A semifinals.
Jeremy Gregory, North Mecklenburg: the 6-7 sophomore is looking like a high-major recruit with his rebounding ability and soft hands. He had 15 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks and two assists. He made all five free throws in the Olympic win.
Jalen Huntley, Forest Hills: 20 points, eight rebounds, five assists in the Shelby loss. Teammate Alec Topper had 14 points, 15 rebounds and three assists.
Trayden Williams, North Mecklenburg: senior point guard is a wizard with the basketball and has a nasty midrange game. He made 9-of-18 shots and only took one 3-pointer. He had 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists. He played all 32 minutes.
Saturday’s #BIG5 Top Girls Performers
Kyla Bryant, Salisbury: 27 points, one rebound, one steal against Newton-Conover.
Chyna Cornwell, Newton-Conover: 26 points, 17 rebounds, seven blocks in a 65-53 win over Salisbury. Newton-Conover advanced to its first state final since 1992. Newton-Conover (27-2) ended Salisbury’s unbeaten season.
Grace Loftin, Newton-Conover: 20 points, three steals in Salisbury win.
Amhiya Moreland, Vance: 18 points, on 8-of-11 shooting, plus five rebounds in a 72-42 win over Mallard Creek.
Kyanna Morgan, Vance: excellent defense in the Mallard Creek win pplus 12 points, four steals and three rebounds.
Saturday’s Videos
This story was originally published March 8, 2020 at 12:50 AM.
