North Mecklenburg boys win The Observer’s 2023-24 Sweet 16 basketball championship
North Mecklenburg is the 2023-24 Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 boys’ basketball champion.
The Vikings beat previously unbeaten Wilmington New Hanover, 57-47, to win the school’s third state championship. North Mecklenburg also won state titles in 2005 and 2020.
North Mecklenburg will get a large banner to hang in its gym.
Unbeaten 3A state champion Central Cabarrus was second and Lake Norman, which reached the N.C. 4A state semifinals, was third.
North Mecklenburg is ranked No. 13 in MaxPreps’ national poll, the highest of any North Carolina team. North Meck was unbeaten against N.C. competition this season and beat three teams ranked in the top 10 in the final Sweet 16 poll: No. 3 Lake Norman, No. 4 Myers Park (the 2023 state champ that was ranked No. 4 in America at the time) and No. 8 Chambers, which North Meck beat three times.
The Vikings also beat No. 14 South Mecklenburg.
“We work hard,” North Mecklenburg coach Duane Lewis said after the state championship game. “I challenge them. But at the end of the day, they know I love them to death. I’ve got their back and I’m going to be there for them through whatever. So I can’t say enough. They’re really great kids. They’ve earned this and they deserved this.”
▪ The Sweet 16, which began in the 1984-85 season, ranks the top teams in the media company’s coverage area, which includes schools in the following counties: Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Gaston, Iredell, Lancaster, Lincoln, Union and York. Rankings are based on strength of schedule, strength of a classification, team success within that classification and head-to-head competition between teams ranked in the Sweet 16. It does not consider how ranked teams would fare against each other — or other unranked teams — unless those teams actually meet.
