West Charlotte downs previously unbeaten Central Cabarrus in NCHSAA 3A regional final
The West Charlotte Lions jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in the NC 3A West Final against previously undefeated Central Cabarrus, going on to an 84-75 victory at Freedom High School.
“It’s exciting,” West Charlotte senior guard Landon King said. “We knew we could do this but to go out and play like we did feels really good.”
West Charlotte (21-9) held Central Cabarrus (30-1) to just three field goals in the first quarter and led 15-10 after Mari Day’s three pointer with five seconds left in the quarter.
The Lions extended the lead in the second to as many as 15 points and led 35-20 with three minutes left on a Chancellor Morrow basket. Central clawed back into it by going 6-for-6 from the line in the final minutes and trailed 39-31 at the break.
Central cut the deficit to 41-36 on a Carson Daniel 3-pointer early in the third, but West Charlotte answered with an 8-0 run of its own to push the lead back to 49-36 midway through the quarter.
West Charlotte led 56-45 after the third and held its biggest lead at 67-50 early in the fourth before Central came back. Twins Carson and Chase Daniel went on their own 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 10 and the Vikings closed to within six at 76-70 with 1:39 left.
West Charlotte wouldn’t be denied, not allowing Central to force many turnovers and the Lions went 5-for-6 down the stretch from the free throw line to seal the victory.
“It’s special,” Head Coach Jacoby Davis said. “Everybody stepped up today like I thought they would. It shows how much fight our kids have because we beat a great team today.”
West Charlotte advances to the 3A state title game next Saturday where they will face Fayetteville 71st High School.
PHOTOS FROM THE GAME
Three who made a difference
Landon King, West Charlotte: Tied as leading scorer for the Lions with 18 points, with 14 coming in the second half and he scored the final 8 points for West Charlotte.
Chancellor Morrow, West Charlotte- Tied for team-high honors with King with 18 and also had 14 in the second half with 9 of those points coming off of offensive rebounds.
Jaiden Thompson, Central Cabarrus- Led the Vikings with 19 points. Though he didn’t shoot well he was able to get to the foul line where he was 11 for 13.
Worth mentioning
▪ Central Cabarrus was not only unbeaten coming in at 30-0, they didn’t have one game that the margin was single digits. Coach Davis said it was important for his team to start quickly so they put Central in an uncomfortable spot of playing from behind.
▪ Another key coming in according to Davis was West Charlotte’s schedule. Facing North Meck and Chambers twice during the regular season plus tough non-conference games like private school champ Carmel Christian helped the Lions prepare for games like this.
▪ The future is clearly bright at Central Cabarrus. Thompson is a junior, the Daniel twins are sophomores and only two seniors saw meaningful minutes.
▪ West Charlotte also did this without junior Donovon Raymond, who tore his ACL and the Lions had to go without the 6’9 wingman who averaged 11 points and nearly 8 rebounds.
Box score
West Charlotte 15 24 19 26 84
Central Cabarrus 10 21 14 30 75
West Charlotte- Landon King 18, Chancellor Morrow 18, Chadlyn Traylor 14
Central Cabarrus- Jaiden Thompson 19, Chase Daniel 18, Carson Daniel 18
This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 7:54 PM.