RONDA — South Stokes looked all the part of the top seed for the upcoming North Carolina High School Athletic Association 1A playoffs last Wednesday night.
The Sauras built a hefty lead early and never looked back in a 67-30 win against East Wilkes in the semifinals of the Northwest 1A Conference boy’s basketball tournament.
Fresh off its third-straight NW 1A regular season title, South Stokes defeated North Stokes, 75-37 in Friday’s championship game.
Two nights earlier, the Sauras (24-1) shutout the Cardinals in the first quarter and invoked a running clock with 3:35 to play in the third quarter on a slam dunk from Barry Hairston Jr. The senior finished with 13 points.
Despite the sizeable deficit, No. 5 East Wilkes (10-14) continued to fight and cut the lead to 36 (66-30) on baskets from Grayson Sparks and Praden Hatley. Andrew Tharpe added a 3-pointer.
Behind a pair of dunks from Hairston, the Sauras put together a 27-0 lead after one quarter.
Aside from a pair of missed free throws from Payton Luffman in the opening quarter, the Cardinals had limited scoring opportunities over the game’s first nine minutes.
Owen Combs, who was named to the NW 1A all-tournament team on Friday, finally put the Cardinals in the points column with a 3-pointer almost a minute into the second quarter.
Brady Hall — East Wilkes’ lone double-digit scorer with 11 points — got the designated visitors (despite playing on its home floor) within 28 at 42-14 with his third triple of the game.
South Stokes, which was led by 14 points from Korrin N’Diaye, led 47-16 at halftime. Isiah Lash finished with nine points and William Tilley chipped in eight.
Note: In addition to Combs, N’Diaye, Lash and Hairston Jr., who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, were named to the all-tournament team. With Saturday’s pairings, East Wilkes also qualified for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season. The No. 26 Cardinals traveled to No. 7 South Stanly (22-4) on Tuesday night with the winner playing again on Friday.
#1 South Stokes 67, #5 East Wilkes 30
East Wilkes 0 16 7 7 — 30
South Stokes 27 20 14 6 — 67
EAST WILKES: Owen Combs 2 0-0 6; Mason Sparks 0 0-0 0; Brady Hall 4 0-0 11; Payton Luffman 1 0-2 2; Phoenix Blackburn 1 0-0 2; Reece Dobbins 0 0-0 0; Hayden Phillips 0 0-0 0; Andrew Tharpe 2 0-0 5; Seth Lambert 0 0-0 0; Grayson Sparks 1 0-0 2; Praden Hatley 1 0-0 0; Logan Brown 0 0-0 0; Reid West 0 0-0 0; Levi Sadler 0 0-0 0; Jaxon Osborne 0 0-0 0. Team Totals: 12 0-2 30.
SOUTH STOKES: Korrin N’Diaye 7 0-0 14; Barry Hairston Jr. 5 0-0 13; Isiah Lash 4 1-6 9; Brody Clark 1 2-2 5; William Tilley 3 0-0 8; Ethan Tilley 0 0-0 0; Connor Cox 1 0-0 2; Deuce Chalmers 1 1-2 3; Jake Lozzi 0 0-0 0; Michael Werts 2 0-0 6; Jordan Mickey 1 0-0 2; Aamari Conrad 0 1-2 1; Bryson Stephens 1 0-0 2; Josiah Cleghorn 1 0-0 2. Team Totals: 27 5-12 67.
THREE-POINTERS: East Wilkes: Hall 3, Combs 2, Tharpe. South Stokes: Hairston Jr. 3, Werts 2, Tilley 2, Clark.
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