South Meck rallies to beat Myers Park, win first conference tournament title in 22 years
South Mecklenburg knew it had blown an opportunity in its regular-season finale last week.
The Sabres had a chance to beat one of their oldest rivals to wrap up what would have been their first conference regular-season title since 2012 and a higher seed in the upcoming state playoffs.
Since there was no way to undo that frustration, all South Mecklenburg could do was regroup and see if it could break another long streak in school history in the SoMeck 4A Conference tournament.
The Sabres on Friday would get that chance, against the same team that had given them that frustrating defeat.
A slow start notwithstanding, South Mecklenburg showed the kind of response its coach and players knew it could in an impressive 57-49 win over Myers Park.
“They beat us last week,” said Sabres head coach Chris McDonald, whose team also won the regular- season game at Myers Park. “No question about it. But I’m so proud of our response and how hard we worked this week.”
The fruits of that labor? The Sabres’ 10th conference tournament title — and first since 2003.
“Obviously that’s a long time,” said junior Ben Houpt, who scored 14 points and was named SoMeck Conference tournament MVP. “But I knew this team could do it because of our resiliency. And everybody was involved. It was a complete team effort.”
Jim Gatehouse had a team-high 18 points for South Mecklenburg (17-10) with Connor Yett adding 10 points and Muja Williams and Myles Howard six apiece.
The Sabres had to survive a hot-shooting start by Myers Park (14-12) that was spearheaded by senior guard A.J. Jamison.
The son of former University of North Carolina and NBA star Antawn Jamison (who was among the sellout crowd), Jamison scored nine points in the first two quarters and finished with a game-high 23 points. He also hit seven of his first eight shots and finished 9 of 14 overall with four 3-pointers.
And as South Mecklenburg’s deliberate offense forced Myers Park into longer stretches on the defensive end, Jamison and others got into foul trouble with Jamison picking up three fouls in the fourth quarter to foul out with 1:23 to play.
Three who made a difference
Jim Gatehouse, South Mecklenburg: The junior scored in each quarter to lead the Sabres with 18 points.
Ben Houpt, South Mecklenburg: The junior scored 14 points and was fouled both times he converted on 3-pointers, missing the free throw on the first one and finishing a 4-point play on the second one.
A.J. Jamison, Myers Park: The senior guard scored a game-high 23 points and tallied in each quarter.
Notable
▪ Myers Park opened in 1951 and South Mecklenburg in 1959, and they have met on the basketball court virtually every year since. But Friday’s conference tournament title matchup was only the second in their history; Myers Park won 68-48 in the title game of the old Western 4A Conference in 1962 in a game played at the West Mecklenburg High gymnasium.
▪ South Mecklenburg improved to 10-6 all time in conference tournament title games, including six championships from 1969-76. Myers Park dropped to 11-10 all time and ended the Mustangs’ two-year streak of SoMeck regular-season and conference tournament titles.
▪ Myers Park hit 12 of its first 22 shots (all in the first half) before the Mustangs converted just 8 of 30 in the second half.
They said it
“To come in here and beat them for the second time means a lot. We blew an opportunity last week but we worked hard in practice and had a good week.” — South Mecklenburg head coach Chris McDonald
BOX SCORE
South Mecklenburg 8 15 16 18 — 57
Myers Park 12 18 10 9 — 49
SOUTH MECKLENBURG 57 — Williams 6, Ben Houpt 14, Connor Yett 10, Howard 6, Sanner 3, Jim Gatehouse 18
MYERS PARK 49 — Hines 5, Early 2, A.J. Jamison 23, Nelson 3, Ayo Awosanya 16
Records: South Meck 17-10; Myers Park 14-12
