The South Central girls’ basketball team smothered Vance County all game, cruising to the third round of the NCHSAA playoffs with a 78-46 win on Friday night.
It’s become business as usual for a Falcons team (26-2) that has won 15 consecutive games dating back to mid-January and has won by more than 20 points in all but two of its wins.
“This season has been special for sure, but we’re not done,” head coach Robert Duck said.
No. 1 South Central advances to take on No. 9 Scotland after its upset of Fike in the second round.
The game began with a 17-0 SC run, before Vance County closed the first quarter with an 18-10 run of its own to stay within single digits.
Then the Falcon defense held Vance to just three points in the second quarter to pull away and coasted from there.
“Saw a lot of heart on the defensive end of the floor and they shared the ball on the offensive side of the floor. That’s Falcon basketball for you,” Duck said.
SC featured four double-digit scorers for the second game in a row. Brook Evans led the way with 20 points, followed by Jaidyn Boswell (15), Niyani Mayo (11) and Charmaine Dixon (10).
South Central opened the playoffs in similar fashion with a dominant 69-44 win over White Oak in the first round. Duck said keeping their high-energy play going will be key to moving further in the playoffs than last year.
“We talk about having an edge. Edge, the first part is E, which is energy. So, we’ve got to bring the energy in everything we do and everything else will take care of itself,” Duck said.
Boys’ game
South Central 65, White Oak 58
With clutch plays and a fired-up home crowd, the South Central boys’ basketball team grinded out a tough win to beat White Oak 65-58 in the second round of the NCHSAA playoffs.
“That’s what we’ve been all year,” head coach Leland Jones said. “We’re a tough, gritty team. We try to play tough, and guys showed up tonight.”
No. 5 South Central must now hit the road to take on No. 4 Seventy-First, which smashed Jacksonville 72-52, in Fayetteville in the third round.
The Falcons (22-3), winners of five straight, led by 11 going into the fourth quarter but White Oak fought back to within one with three and a half minutes left.
From there, SC’s Isaiah Godley hit a 3 to go up by four, and White Oak tied the game at 50 with two and a half minutes left. Tobia Moye connected on a layup in traffic to break the tie, and White Oak responded again. Troy Loftin hit two clutch free throws to go up two, then on the next possession got a steal and layup to put SC up four.
Defense and free throws carried the Falcons to the win from there.
“Basketball is a game of run. There’s going to be peaks and valleys and just got to weather the storm, stay level-headed and we went out there and took the game back,” Jones said.
Loftin led the Falcons with 14 points, and Moye (13) and Ean Behm (11) also scored in double figures.
South Central jumped out to a 19-8 lead after ending the first quarter on a 10-0 run. SC led most of the game from there until the frantic fourth quarter.
“I told them we got to establish ourselves early. Establish who we’ve been all year,” Jones said.
Jones had praise for the South Central crowd, who chanted and cheered loudly for the Falcons down the stretch.
“It’s always fun, man. South central is known to have a good crowd, the community comes out to support all the time. And they showed up tonight, the Falcons nest was deep tonight,” he said.
The Falcons came into the game off a comfortable 76-54 win over Scotland in the opening round.
3A
Swansboro 58, J.H. Rose 55 OT
The magic finally ran out for the Rampants on Friday night, but not before a valiant effort on the road against the top seed in the East Region.
The Rampants held a 22-18 lead at the half and had the Pirates on the ropes after three, leading 41-32. But the Pirates willed their way back in, outscoring the Rampants 26-14 the rest of the way, including 10-7 in overtime, to claim the OT win.
Junior Justin Grimes finished his stellar junior campaign with 19 points, while classmate TJ Brown added 12. Playing in their final games, senior Malachi Keyes pulled down 10 rebounds to go with six points and Elijah Carroll grabbed 11 boards, blocked three shots and added seven points. Malachi Green had nine points in the loss.
Rose finished the season 16-11.
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
4A
South View 50, D.H. Conley 32
The Vikings dropped out of the postseason in a second-round loss on the road Friday night, ending the season with a 17-9 record.
Senior Ella Pierre-Louis chalked up one last double-double for the Vikings with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the loss, while fellow senior Aubrey Mayberry finished just behind with nine points and nine boards.
South View moves on to face top-seed Hoggard in the third round.
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