The long wait is over. Myers Park stops North Meck, heads to first state final in 57 years
Scott Taylor wasn’t alive, the last time it happened.
Neither were most of the fans on the Myers Park side of the Providence High gym – the same fans who Taylor joined in celebration at the end of Saturday’s 4A boys’ West Regional final.
For the first time in 57 years, the Mustangs are headed to a basketball state championship game.
It wasn’t one of those nail-biters, decided on a last-second banked-in shot.
The Mustangs eliminated the drama, instead choosing to put on a show in their 72-51 romp over North Mecklenburg.
It was the West’s No. 1 seed versus No. 3.
On this day, No. 1 was clearly better. Myers Park never trailed, and the Mustangs led for all but 40 seconds of the game.
“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” Taylor said after coaching his team to the state title game.
Myers Park (27-4) will face the East Regional winner, Richmond Senior, next weekend for the 4A crown.
It was the big show
This was a game that the Charlotte area anticipated. It sold out within minutes earlier in the week, and officials told fans not to show up without a ticket. A half-hour before tipoff, the line of fans waiting to get into the Providence gym stretched about 150 yards, out into the parking lot.
Fans wanted to see if the Mustangs could find a way to stop North Mecklenburg – and, specifically, junior Isaiah Evans, who exploded for 62 points Tuesday in a quarterfinal victory over Chambers.
Evans had his moments Saturday, although Myers Park held him in check much of the game.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs buried a lot of bad memories.
Their last visit to the state championship was in 1966, and as Taylor said, a lot of good Myers Park teams have fallen short in the years since.
And there were more recent disappointments.
The Mustangs still fret over their regular-season losses to in-state teams – to Chambers in late December and a last-second setback to Carmel Christian in January.
“We’ve continued to grow through all of that,” Taylor said.
And there was last year’s state playoff game at North Mecklenburg.
“We went up to their gym,” Taylor recalled of a 4A quarterfinal game last March. “And they really put it to us. They played a great game.”
Nothing like 2022
It was all different Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs raced to an 11-2 lead, setting the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Senior Elijah Strong scored the first basket, on an inside jump shot. Then Bishop Boswell hit three in a row, the last from 3-point range.
North Mecklenburg (29-3), losing in the regional finals for the second straight year, battled back. The Vikings narrowed the gap to 15-14 with 1:50 left in the first quarter, but Strong hit a pair of baskets, for a 19-14 lead.
It was more of the same to start the second quarter – an inside basket by Strong, a 3-pointer by Boswell. Suddenly, the Mustangs had a 10-point lead, and their boisterous student cheering section was topping the 100-decibel mark in the packed gym.
Myers Park closed the first half with a 13-0 run, with Sir Mohammed providing seven of the points. That gave the Mustangs a 41-21 lead at intermission.
Taylor said he knew the Vikings wouldn’t give up.
“That’s a really good basketball team,” he said of North Mecklenburg. “I just didn’t want to let them make a run at us to start the second half. I knew they’d have some small runs, but I told our guys that if they took good shots and played solid defense, we’d be OK.”
Sure enough, North Mecklenburg outscored the Mustangs 8-2 at the start of the third quarter, but it took them three minutes to do so. And Myers Park responded with a Santana Lynch 3-pointer, for a 46-29 lead.
And that’s pretty much the way it went from there.
‘This is great!’
Evans settled for 18 points, and teammate Trey Maxwell was actually more of a problem, hitting five 3-pointers and finishing with 22 points.
Boswell, a 6-4 junior guard, scored a game-high 24 for Myers Park, and Strong added 16.
Boswell added 13 rebounds, and the Mustangs beat the Vikings 36-21 on the boards.
“I can’t tell you how great this feels,” Strong said. “We’ve worked so hard for this. To work that hard and finally have it come true … this is great!”
Strong hesitated a second and added, “But we still have one more game to win.”
When the buzzer sounded, Taylor ran across the court, into the midst of the Myers Park cheering section. There he led cheers and joined the Mustang fans, most of whom were dressed in white Saturday.
“To be honest with you, I haven’t thought about next week,” Taylor said later. “I know we’ll try to keep things as normal as possible, but we don’t have much experience at this.”
Few Myers Park boys’ basketball fans do.
Scoring summary
North Mecklenburg 14 7 17 13 – 51
Myers Park 19 22 11 20 – 72
NORTH MECKLENBURG – Jenkins 0; Trey Maxwell 22; Isaiah Evans 18; Pierce 9; C. Evans
2; Foy 0; Murray 0.
MYERS PARK – White 6; Lynch 8; Elijah Strong 16; Bishop Boswell 24; Sir Mohammed 11;
Walter 2; Paraison 3.
PHOTOS: Myers Park vs. North Mecklenburg
This story was originally published March 4, 2023 at 1:26 PM.
