Tuesday’s Rewind: Myers Park makes history on memorable night for Meck County HS teams
NBA star Kevin Durant, in town for Wednesday’s Phoenix Suns-Charlotte Hornets game, turned heads when he walked into the gym to watch a high school basketball playoff game Tuesday night at Myers Park.
But on one of the more memorable nights in Mecklenburg County prep sports history, that wasn’t the biggest news in town.
And there was a lot of news.
▪ West Charlotte, which had lost five straight games before the playoffs began, rallied to beat Greensboro Smith on the road, snapping Smith’s 17-game win streak. The Lions (15-13) now take a four-game win streak into Saturday’s regional championship game against unbeaten Central Cabarrus. It’s a rematch of last year’s regional final, which West Charlotte won en route to winning the N.C. 3A state championship.
▪ At Watauga, top 10 national recruit Blanca Thomas led the Charlotte Catholic girls to 60-49 win over Watauga to reach the regional finals for the second straight season. Catholic lost to eventual state champion Chambers last year. This year, the Cougars will play Sweet 16 No. 1 Lake Norman (30-0) which rallied to beat North Mecklenburg 57-50.
▪ In Huntersville, No. 5 North Mecklenburg rallied to beat No. 6 Chambers behind a school-record 62 points from junior forward Isaiah Evans. Evans, a five-star national recruit, scored the second-most points in Mecklenburg County history. North Mecklenburg advances to its fourth straight regional final where the Vikings will face No. 1 Myers Park. Myers Park beat Charlotte Catholic to reach its first regional since 1966.
And that’s where Durant was (more below).
Quick links
Langston’s Mailbag: could high school ball be played at Bojangles’ Coliseum? Best teams of past 10
Kevin Durant watches Myers Park make history
Still unbeaten: Lake Norman girls dream still alive
Tuesday’s NC regional semifinal scores, regional championship pairings
North Meck’s Isaiah Evans has 62 in Chambers win
The NCHSAA needs to change its regional format fast. Here’s a suggestion
Mr, Ms NC Basketball Finalists announced
Regional sites to be announced Wednesday morning
The NC High School Athletic Association will determine the neutral site for the regional championship games Wednesday morning. It announced Tuesday that potential sites will be Asheville Reynolds, Morganton Freedom, Greensboro Grimsley, McDowell High in Marion, or Providence High in Charlotte.
How Myers Park made history
Myers Park chased Charlotte Catholic around the floor for the first half of the team’s 4A West Regional semifinal Tuesday night, and it was good enough to give the host Mustangs a six-point halftime lead.
But Myers Park coach Scott Taylor wanted something different from his team.
“In that first half, I thought we were reacting a lot to what Charlotte Catholic was doing,” Taylor said. “So at the half, I told them to be more proactive.”
It worked.
The Mustangs outscored the Cougars 45-19 in the final two periods and galloped to a 76-44 victory, before a raucous sellout crowd that included NBA star Kevin Durant, a couple other former NBA players, and a host of college coaches.
Myers Park (26-4), the 4A West’s top seed, faces No. 2 seed North Mecklenburg (29-2) in the regional finals Saturday.
It’s Myers Park’s first appearance in the state’s Final Four since 1966. The Mustangs will try to reach the third state championship game in school history. Myers Park has never won the state title in football or basketball.
“Not being proactive defensively also affected our offense,” Taylor said. “Our offensive pace was bad in the early going.”
Thanks in large part to 6-8 senior Patrick Tivnan, Charlotte Catholic (24-6) hung with the Mustangs for the opening two periods. Tivnan scored 14 points in the half and operated efficiently on the inside against Myers Park.
“That was a really gutsy game that he played,” Taylor said of Tivnan. “He was playing on an injured leg.”
Charlotte Catholic coach Mike King told Taylor after the game that the leg bothered Tivnan throughout the game.
“I think our pressure – and his injury – wore him down in the second half,” Taylor said.
Tivnan had six second-half points for a 20-point game.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs were warming up in the second half.
Senior center Elijah Strong did the damage on the inside. He scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
And Myers Park stole a page from the Charlotte Catholic playbook and hit plenty of 3s – 10, in all.
Bishop Boswell, who also finished with 18 points, hit three 3-pointers. Santana Lynch came off the bench for 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
Defensively, Myers Park also improved after halftime.
“I challenged our guys at halftime to make three consecutive stops at the start of the third quarter,” Taylor said. “We actually made four.”
Those stops, plus a Boswell 3-pointer and a Strong tip-in, expanded Myers Park’s lead from 31-25 to 36-25. The Cougars made a bit of a run early in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to nine points, but Myers Park scored 22 of the game’s final 28 points.
NOTES
▪ Myers Park forward A.J. White injured his left ankle on a dunk early in the fourth quarter. He was helped off the floor and did not play again. There was no immediate word if he will be able to play Saturday.
▪ Durant, in town with the Phoenix Suns to play the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, was joined in the stands by ex-NBA players Gerald Henderson and George Lynch. Also in attendance was Hornets’ play-by-play voice Eric Collins.
Tuesday’s #BIG5 top performers
Kiara Anderson, East Lincoln girls: 18 points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals in a 56-35 win over Freedom. East advances to its first Final Four since 1973
Jahmir Brown, Chambers: 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, four steals in a 105-92 double-overtime loss at North Meck.
Isaiah Evans, North Mecklenburg: school-record 62 points in a 105-92 double-overtime win over North Mecklenburg. That’s the second-most points in Mecklenburg County history.
Kirsten Lewis-Williams, Lake Norman girls: 22 points, 18 rebounds in a 57-50 come-from-behind win North Meck.
Blanca Thomas, Charlotte Catholic girls: 22 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks and two steals in a 60-49 win at Watauga.
Tuesday’s boys boxscores
NO. 1 MYERS PARK 76, NO. 12 CHARLOTTE CATHOLIC 44
Charlotte Catholic 13 12 9 10 -- 44
Myers Park 14 17 17 28 -- 76
CHARLOTTE CATHOLIC 44 -- Patrick Tivnan 20, Ryan Lewis 6, Liam Gates 5
MYERS PARK 76 -- Elijah Strong 18, Bishop Boswell 18, Santana Lynch 14, Sir Mohammed 8, Sadiq White Jr 8, Sam Walters 6
Records: Myers Park 26-4
NO. 3 CENTRAL CABARRUS 86, CREST 50
CREST 11 18 11 10 -- 50
CENTRAL CABARRUS 27 23 28 16 -- 86
CREST 50 – AJ Adams 15, D. Surratt 7, A. Goodlett 5, C. McDowell 3, T. Briscoe 17, PJ Mitchell 3
CENTRAL CABARRUS 86 – Jaiden Thompson 19, Chase Daniel 13, Carson Daniel 9, Gavin Bullock 12, Adriel Miller 12, Eli Ford 8, DJ Kent 7, Noah Edmisten 2, Emari Russell 2, Micah Murray 2, Jake Baker, Cayden Smith, C. Ezebego, L. Burse-Jones
Notes: Central is averaging 88.7 pts per game, 26 assists per game, 19.8 steals per game, and committing 9.9 turnovers per game.
Records: Central Cabarrus 30-0 / 14-0 – Crest 20-8 / 10-4
WEST CHARLOTTE 66, BEN SMITH 62
West Charlotte 12 10 21 23 -- 66
Ben Smith 8 20 18 16 -- 62
WEST CHARLOTTE 66 -- Chadlyn Traylor 15 Ollie Alford 15 Donovon Raymond 13 Markus Kerr 12 A.Day 6 D.Day 3 Ko’ne 2
BEN SMITH 62 -- Lattimore 23 Gilbert 17 C. Neely 11 Z. Neely 7 Collins 2 Green 1
Tuesday’s girls boxscores
NO. 1 LAKE NORMAN 57, NORTH MECK 50
Lake Norman - 10 14 9 22 -- 57
North Meck - 11 18 6 15 -- 50
LAKE NORMAN 57 -- Kirsten Lewis Williams 22 points (18 rebounds), Kelsey Rhyne 20, Shehan 11, Sirianni 2, Shehan 2
NORTH MECK 50 - Booker 17, Farmer 10, Bates 8, Page 6, Reed 6, Hoover 2, Pellum 1
Notable: Lake Norman advances to the 5th round of NCHSAA state playoffs.
NO. 3 EAST LINCOLN 56, FREEDOM 35
Freedom 7 6 10 12 -- 35
East Lincoln 9 12 20 15 -- 56
FREEDOM 35 -- Peyton Caldwell 25, A. Whisnant 6, A. Whitaker 2, S. McGee 1, H. Gladden 1
EAST LINCOLN 56 -- Kiara Anderson 18, Ginny Overbay 10, Hailey McFadden 10, Taniyah Thomas 6, Emma Montanari 5, Madison Self 4, Madison Bissinger 3
Noteables: East Lincoln Lady Mustangs Advance to the Final Four for the First time since 1973. Kiara Anderson 18 pts, 4 rebs, 4 assists, 2 steals. Ginny Overbay 10 pts, 5 rebs, 6 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks. Hailey McFadden 10 pts, 7 rebs, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block
FHS: (15-13, 3-7)
ELHS: (31-0, 14-0) Next Game vs #1 West Rowan @ TBD 3/4/23
NO. 7 CHARLOTTE CATHOLIC 60, NO. 16 WATAUGA 49
Watauga 4 6 19 20 -- 49
Charlotte Catholic 11 20 12 17 -- 60
WATAUGA 49 -- Kate Sears 16, Charlotte Torgerson 15, Caroline Farthing 7, Julie Matheson 6, Laurel Kiker 3, Brooke Scheffler 2
CHARLOTTE CATHOLIC 60 -- Blanca Thomas 22, Gracynn Gough 11, Aniyah Scales 10, Olivia Fava 9, Harper McKain 4, Maggie Kernodle 2
Team Records: Charlotte Catholic 25-6; Watauga 23-7
EAST BURKE 49, RANDLEMAN 42
East Burke 15 6 12 16 -- 49
Randleman 13 11 5. 13. -- 42
EAST BURKE 49 -- Kara Brinkley 19, Braleyn Stilwell 17, Taylor Bostain 6, Aubree Grigg 4, Kassie Turner 2
RANDLEMAN 42 -- G. Hall 12, E. York 9, A. Petty 9, C. Robinson 5, G. Beane 3, J. Booker 2
Records: East Burke 27-2; Randleman 27-2
This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
