South Mecklenburg’s Jim Gatehouse, strong junior class have Sabres on path to success 

When Chris McDonald became South Mecklenburg High’s boys basketball coach three years ago, he knew of the Sabres’ 1970s championship history, which included future NBA stars Bobby Jones and Walter Davis — and four state titles.

He also knew he had a group of freshman that had starred at Carmel Middle School in his district.

Three of those players — Jim Gatehouse, Ben Houpt and Connor Yett — are starters on this year’s team that is at the top of a congested SoMeck 4A Conference race.

Gatehouse is the leading scorer at 15.2 points per game in addition to 4.6 rebounds. Houpt is second in scoring (14.8) and tops in assists (4.0). And Yett leads in rebounding (5.8) and averages 9.3 points.

Together, along with senior starters Muja Williams (6.7 points, 2.6 assists) and Myles Howard (11.2 points, 5.0 rebounds), they’re leading a South Mecklenburg basketball rebirth that started with last year’s 21-6 record and trip to the 4A playoffs.

The 6-foot-5 Gatehouse has emerged as a college prospect and big shot-maker this season for the Sabres (10-7, 4-1) who have won four straight games.

South Mecklenburg is alone in first place in the SoMECK conference, chased by Myers Park (8-10, 4-2), Olympic (13-4, 4-2), Ardrey Kell (13-3, 3-2) and Palisades (10-8, 3-3)

In Friday’s 71-63 win at Myers Park that snapped a four-game losing streak to the two-year defending league champion Mustangs, Gatehouse’s lone 3-pointer of the night with 1:39 to play gave the Sabres’ a 65-61 lead after the home team had closed within a single point.

Earlier this season in a grueling 81-77 double-overtime win over Providence, Gatehouse scored 10 of his game-high 25 points in overtime periods.

“We have weapons on this basketball team and it’s not going to be everybody’s night every night,” McDonald said of his balanced team. “So we use our guys and trust they all can make plays. It starts on the defensive end and it’s taken a collective effort.”

Gatehouse and Yett have been on the varsity since they were freshman with Houpt rejoining his Carmel classmates after spending his freshman year at Charlotte Latin.

“I think they wanted to stay at home and be a part of the culture that we’re trying to build,” McDonald said of his three junior starters.

Gatehouse says the Myers Park was the biggest win of his career.

“This was a long time coming,” Gatehouse said. “I’ve been here three years and that’s best feeling I’ve ever had is beating that team.”

With a game this week against Olympic, another league title contender, Gatehouse and McDonald know their attention has to be on the task at hand.

South Mecklenburg lost 63-48 at Olympic in its league opener and will still havematchups against Ardrey Kell, Palisades and Myers Park later in the season.

“Right now, I’m just focused on the season,” Gatehouse said. “That’s all I care about.”

Said McDonald: “We’ve just got to keep fighting and keep getting better.”

Note: A winter storm forced cancellation of Wednesday’s South Meck-Ardrey Kell game.