Big East Scramble For Second

Hunt beat Nash Central Tuesday night 57-53 in Big East basketball and in doing so wrapped up the regular season championship. Nash Central’s lost their third ties them with Rocky Mount who beat Southern Nash 73-43 with three losses. Rocky Mount has a 6-3 conference mark while Nash Central stands at 5-3.

The Bulldogs can pull even with Rocky Mount tonight as they host Northern Nash. Northern is 4-4 in conference play after their 64-60 victory over Fike last night. Northern hasn’t been discounted yet from finishing second in the league because they meet Rocky Mount Friday and Nash Central tonight. Northern has already beaten both once this year so at this point they hold any tie breakers with each.

Northern Nash’s girl won at Fike last night 47-38 so their hopes of winning or tying for first place in the Big East still exist. They do however have a game tonight with Nash Central before the Friday Night match up with Rocky Mount.

Rocky Mount lead by J’Kyra Brown’s 19 points beat Southern Nash 58-52 to secure their spot in any possible championship game Friday. Hunt beat Nash Central in girls basketball 60-48.

The second place spot in the Big East boys may not be secured until the tournament next week which will be played at Rocky Mount. If any team other than Hunt wins the title then they would jump to second giving them a first round home game while all others making the playoffs will hit the road so finishing second is very important.

Last weekend UNC Pembroke opened their baseball season and won all three games they played. Nash Central’s Alex Pearce started two of the three games catching for the Braves and was 0-4. The Sunday game he had a sac bunt and and rbi sac fly to center field to drive in a run.

Tonight is the big game in Durham. UNC and Duke play for first place in the ACC at a little more than the half way point in the season. A month ago you would be thinking Duke in a rout but the Heels have found that groove that all teams seek and have played great the last month or so. This could be a nail biter.

The beauty of sports is when teams find that groove which makes them play at a different level than when they flounder. Last year Rocky Mount’s boys found it in the middle of the season and carried it all the way to a State title. North Carolina has found it since Christmas and who knows how far they can go now in the NCAA tournament. Shoot at Thanksgiving it didn’t look like they would make the NIT.

Duke’s team went to that next level when John Schyer was made point guard in the middle of the season and it took them to a Naional Title.

Wes Bradshaw will be at Nash Central tonight taping the NC/Northern Nash boys basketball game. This game is part of the mad scramble for second in the Big East. If the Northern girls win they will play Rocky Mount for a share of the regular season title Friday night.