NC high school basketball classmates set county scoring records the same week
On Feb. 5, Bessemer City High boys basketball star Randall Pettus watched sophomore Janiya Adams break a 38-year-old Gaston County single-game scoring record.
A week later, Adams got to watch Pettus, also a sophomore, do the same thing.
“I knew it was gonna happen,” Adams said. “Once, I saw he was locked in like that. I was cheering. I was like, ‘Dang, he’s got 50 points in the third quarter.’ I knew it then.”
Pettus scored 60 points in a 91-62 win over Piedmont Community Charter last Friday night, Feb. 12.
He scored 30 points in each half and broke a Gaston County record of 59 points set in 1969 by Tony Byers. Byers also played at Bessemer City.
Pettus got to 60 with a couple of free throws in the final seconds.
“I knew it was kind of my night in the second quarter, at the end of it,” he said. “They told me I had 30 points at halftime. My coach told me to try to get 50. That was the plan, and (when he got there) I guess they realized the county record wasn’t too far away. He said, ‘Try to get it.’”
Pettus, a 6-foot-2 guard, averages 30 points per game. Last week, he scored the fifth-most points ever by a N.C. public school basketball player and the most since Vance High’s Cam Hamilton had 63 in 2017, when the Cougars beat Richmond Senior 123-118.
Adams, a 5-5 guard, averages 26 points per game. In her big game, she scored the 10th most points ever by a N.C. public school girl, and the most since Janiya Downs of South Rowan had 52 in a 76-72 win over North Davidson two years ago.
Adams broke the Gaston County girls scoring record of 47 points set by Ashbrook’s Deanna Tate in 1983. Stuart Cramer’s Carley Womack tied the old record two years ago.
For Adams, playing against rival Cherryville had her ready to go.
“I knew it was a rival game,” Adams said of her team’s 60-27 win. “And I was hyped the whole day, and then I started hitting, hitting, hitting, playing defense, getting some steals and what happened, happened.”
Both players say they will never forget their record nights.
“It feels really good,” Adams said.
Said Pettus: “It’s great. It feels spectacular. I feel honored to just be able to go out and do that, honestly.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 8:41 PM.
