Mooresville upsets North Mecklenburg, heads to its first NCHSAA state championship
Mooresville did it.
The Blue Devils beat N.C. boys basketball heavyweight North Mecklenburg, 55-52, in the NCHSAA 7A Western Regional championship game at Lenoir-Rhyne’s Shuford Gymnasium on Friday night.
A sold-out crowd saw the Blue Devils (27-2) win their 17th straight game and advance to their first state championship game.
Mooresville will play Southern Durham (27-3) in next week’s state final at Winston-Salem’s Joel Coliseum. Southern Durham (whose girls’ team is also in the championship game) is ranked No. 37 nationally by MaxPreps.
Southern Durham beat Raleigh’s Cardinal Gibbons, 65-55, in the Eastern Regional championship game.
In the Western final, Mooresville and North Mecklenburg provided fans with a thrilling finish.
Mooresville senior point guard Jordan Walton made two free throws to push the lead to 53-49 with 20 seconds left.
North Mecklenburg’s D.J. Lindsey, Jr., missed two free throws with 12 seconds left, and the Vikings had to foul, sending 6-foot-7 post player Christian Wilson to the line.
He made both.
Down 55-49, North Mecklenburg’s Ashton Pierce made a 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds left to cut the deficit to 55-52. And after an inbounds turnover, the Vikings got one final chance to tie.
Pierce took a 3-pointer from the right wing that went halfway in and came back out.
That started an emotional celebration for Mooresville, which was 4-21 in 2020 when coach Armard Moore became Blue Devils’ head coach after 10 years as a North Mecklenburg assistant coach.
Six years later, they are going to the finals.
“It feels great to give Mooresville a chance to win a state championship,” said a raspy-voiced Moore after the victory. “I’m so proud of these guys.”
Qua Bailey (16 points), Wilson (13 points, seven rebounds), Walton (10 points, seven assists) and Nolan Ericson (eight points, seven rebounds) led Mooresville, which hit all five of its 3-pointers in the second half as it rallied from deficits of 39-32 with 1 minute, 43 seconds left in the third quarter and 45-41 with 6:00 left in the fourth.
North Mecklenburg (25-5) had a seven-game win streak snapped and lost a bid to become the first Mecklenburg County boys’ public school team to win three straight state titles since South Mecklenburg did so in the 1970s. North Mecklenburg has been to seven straight NCHSAA Final Fours and won four state championships total in the past 21 years, including three in the past six seasons.
“What a great high school basketball game,” said Vikings coach Duane Lewis, whose team had edged Mooresville 73-69 at home in a Nov. 29 regular-season contest. “We had the momentum for a little bit. But it’s a game of runs, and they had the momentum there at the end.
“It’s a tough way to lose, but we’re not hanging our heads.”
The loss ended the careers of the five seniors who comprised North Mecklenburg’s starting lineup on Friday: Alex White, Wilson Estwick, Ashton Pierce, ExZavier Young and Xavier Davis.
Pierce (14 points), Estwick (11 points, four rebounds, eight assists), Young (10 points, five rebounds), Lindsey (nine points) and White (eight points, six rebounds) led the Vikings.
Game summary
Mooresville 15 10 13 17 — 55
North Mecklenburg 10 16 13 13 — 52
MOORESVILLE 55 — Jordan Walton 10, Qua Bailey 16, Ericson 8, Christian Wilson 13, E. Baily 2, McKinnon 6.
NORTH MECKLENBURG 52 — White 8, Wilson Estwick 11, Ashton Pierce 14, Lindsey 9, ExZavier Young 10.
Records: Mooresville 27-2, North Mecklenburg 25-5.
This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 9:29 PM.