Kevin Durant watches Myers Park stop Catholic, reach first Final Four since 1966
Elijah Strong scored on the inside, while Bishop Boswell and Santana Lynch connected from the outside Tuesday night, lifting top-seeded Myers Park to a 76-44 romp over Charlotte Catholic in the 4A boys’ West regional semifinals.
Myers Park reached its first Final Four since 1966.
The victory, achieved before a noisy sellout crowd that included NBA star Kevin Durant, sent the Mustangs to a Saturday regional final matchup with North Mecklenburg.
The visiting Cougars hung with the Mustangs for much of the first half, but Myers Park’s defense shut down the Charlotte Catholic attack, and the Mustangs turned a healthy share of the Cougar misses into baskets at the other end.
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The Mustangs led 31-25 at the half, and head coach Scott Taylor challenged his team to stop Charlotte Catholic on its first three second-half possessions.
“We actually had four stops,” Taylor said, “and we converted some of those into points.”
A 3-pointer by Boswell gave Myers Park a 34-25 lead, and Strong scored on the inside about 25 seconds later, pushing the Mustangs’ lead into double digits.
The Cougars made a brief run late in the quarter and cut Myers Park’s lead to nine points, but Lynch connected three times from 3-point range in the final period, and the Mustangs pulled away.
Strong and Boswell each scored 18 points, and Lynch added 14.
Charlotte Catholic’s Patrick Tivnan, playing with an injured leg, scored 14 first-half points. A combination of the injury and the Mustang defense held Tivnan to six points in the second half.
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle
PHOTOS: Charlotte Catholic at Myers Park
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 9:48 PM.
