No. 1 Myers Park holds off Ardrey Kell to win SoMeck championship
Nationally ranked Myers Park avoided an upset in the SoMECK championship game Friday night.
The Mustangs’ center, junior Sadiq White, made a putback shot late in the game to give Myers Park a 52-50 win over Ardrey Kell.
“Conference seasons really dig in and test your character,” Mustangs coach Scott Taylor said. “You’ve got teams that know you really well. They get after you and they know what works. Ardrey Kell has gotten so much better throughout the year. (Coach) Mike Craft does such an incredible job. They aren’t even close to the team we played back in January.”
Four-star Notre Dame recruit Sir Mohammed was named the SoMeck conference tournament MVP and helped settle Taylor’s team down by getting defensive stops and key scores, even as Ardrey Kell was applying all kinds of pressure.
“I was really just trying to attack,” Mohammed said. “I was trying to get two feet in the paint and just go finish it. That was really the only goal.”
Mohammed had a few deep 3-pointers as well to get the Mustang faithful on their feet and cheering.
“I feel like I can really shoot,” Mohammed said. “It’s about just getting back in rhythm. If I release it with confidence I think it’s going in every time.”
Taylor was proud of how Mohammed was able to put the team on his back in the beginning of the game.
“We thought we were going to have an opportunity to attack in the paint whether they were going to play us man or zone,” Taylor said. “(Mohammed) was able to get in some good spots and was really intentional about finishing at the front of the rim. That opened some other stuff up. I know he also hit a three that was big in transition.”
As the Mustangs turn their focus to the state playoffs — where they will likely be the top seed in the 4A bracket — their mindset hasn’t changed.
“We’ve shown we can win in a lot of ways,” Taylor said. “We’ve not had to play as many close games recently. But earlier in December we played a bunch of games that weren’t getting into the 60s and 70s. We just haven’t had a lot of those recently. Tonight was good for us because it reminded us of what possession basketball looks like.”
PHOTOS: Myers Park vs. Ardrey Kell, SW4A boys final
This story was originally published February 23, 2024 at 12:00 AM.
