Defending state champs still alive: West Charlotte’s defense stuffs Northwest Cabarrus
The West Charlotte Lions’ quest to repeat as state champions is still going strong as they cruised to an 85-58 win against Northwest Cabarrus in an NCHSAA 3A third-round playoff game Saturday.
Sophomore guard Chadlyn Traylor – who had 20 points in the dominating win – believes that the tough 4A schedule West Charlotte plays is key.
“We play a 4A schedule in conference,” Traylor said. “We play a lot of great teams and we’ve been battle tested all season. We had a lot of dog fights during the seasons so we came in prepared for the playoffs.”
Lions coach Jacoby Davis echoed the young guard’s remarks, and feels his team is in the best conference in the entire state.
“I’ve been saying it forever and some people may agree with me and some not, but I think it is the best conference in the state hands-down,” Davis said about the 3A/4A Queen City Athletic Conference. “At the end of the day, I just think that we are prepared to play anybody. We played one of the toughest schedules in the state, so we were ready.”
Early in the first quarter, the Trojans had a two-point lead with just under 6 minutes to go in the first quarter. Then the Lions took over – and didn’t look back. West Charlotte went on a 16-2 run to end the quarter. Traylor felt like the team locked back in on the game plan, and it helped them regain firm control.
“We just stuck to trying to be consistent throughout the game,” Traylor said. “We didn’t try to settle and we did what Coach (Davis) told us to do, and really stayed in it the whole game.”
Davis was quick to point out a few things that his team needs to shore up if it has any hopes of repeating as state champions.
“I think the most important thing to get better is defensive rebounding,” Davis said. “I think the difference will be now, our guys just doing that better. We haven’t been in transition and that is our strength. A lot of it comes from the beginning of the year when we had so many people out. We never really got our identity. I think we have really found out who we can be.”
The Lions are using their early season adversity as motivation moving through the playoffs, and Davis knows his team is capable of beating anyone when they all come together with one mission in mind – winning another title.
“Anytime you are winning, of course everything is good,” Davis said. “We went through some bad times. One thing I tell the kids is that when you go through adversity, that is when you find out who you really are. At the end of the day, I think the momentum is going in our favor the way it was in the season last year at this time.”
Three who made a difference
Chadlyn Traylor, West Charlotte: He is only a sophomore, but he plays like a seasoned veteran. Traylor can score at all levels as well as make high level passes. He is adept at running the Lions’ offense.
Donovan Raymond, West Charlotte: The 6-foot-10 center was a matchup nightmare for the Trojans (no player taller than 6-foot-4). Raymond was able to assert himself in the paint, grabbing several offensive rebounds. He also had a handful of nice one-handed throw downs.
LeDarrian Menter, Northwest Cabarrus: Menter finished with 12 points. He was able to take advantage of some switches down low and made all of his free-throw attempts.
What’s next?
West Charlotte (14-13) advances to the Elite 8 and will face the winner of Ben L. Smith vs. Hickory. The Trojans finish the season 14-12.