A trio of local high school basketball teams will enter the state playoffs this week as No. 1 seeds and will be at home for the balance of the postseason.
The Farmville Central boys and the South Central and North Pitt girls all grabbed top seeds after all three won their respective conference tournament titles on Friday.
The South Central boys also won their Big Carolina Conference tourney championship but settled for a fifth seed.
Boys
The Jaguars are 25-1, enter the playoffs riding an 18-game winning streak and will open against an all-too-familiar opponent in No. 32 seed Ayden-Grifton.
The 7 p.m. Tuesday tip-off marks the third meeting this season between the Eastern Plains Conference foes. The first meeting was a somewhat competitive 95-72 Jags win, though the second was a 100-47 pasting.
A-G (13-12) started the season at a promising 6-0 but enters the playoffs having lost seven of its last nine. The Chargers won a fifth-place tiebreaker game over SouthWest Edgecombe on Friday, 48-27.
The other 2A boys’ combatant is the 29th-seeded Greene Central (11-14), which faces No. 4 Northwood (24-3) on the road in Pittsboro on Tuesday.
The Rams finished 6-7 in EPC play.
In 3A, the Falcons (20-3) play host to No. 28 Scotland (9-16) in their opener.
It comes on the heels of SC’s three-game sweep of its opponents in the BCC tourney, including topping New Bern 66-53 in the title game.
Crosstown Falcons rival J.H. Rose (15-10) just missed a chance to host in the opening round, earning the 17th seed in the 3A East bracket and a corresponding road game at No. 16 Triton (20-7) in Erwin.
The Rampants saw a five-game winning streak halted by New Bern in the semifinals of the BCC tourney.
Girls
North Pitt (23-2) carries to the top seed into the opening round against No. 32 seed South Columbus (8-18) on Tuesday.
The Panthers have won 16 straight, including a 73-31 pasting of West Craven in the EPC girls’ tournament championship.
Also in 2A, Farmville Central (10-12) earned the No. 22 seed and will travel to take on No. 11 Northwood (22-5). The Jags will have to shake a four-game losing streak to advance, which includes a loss in the EPC tourney to Greene Central.
The Rams (9-17) are the No. 27 seed and will hit the road to take on No. 7 East Carteret (23-2) in their opener. After their overtime win against the Jags in the EPC tournament, GC fell to North Pitt in the semifinals.
In 3A, the Falcons (24-2) take on No. 32 White Oak (8-13) in their playoff tip-off and will do so riding a 13-game winning streak.
SC toppled Jacksonville, 71-45, to put the clamps on the Big Carolina tourney crown.
In 4A, D.H. Conley (16-8) grabbed the No. 9 seed and will play host to No. 24 Jordan (15-11) on Tuesday night.
The Vikings are coming off a pair of losses to South Central in the final game of the regular season and to New Bern in the opening round of the BCC tournament.
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