The opener of this years tournament saw Nash Central pushed for the first half until a steady second half pull a way lead Nash Central to a 68-47 victory over Fike. The Bulldogs only lead 26-22 at the half.
Nate Pittman and Jalen Hendricks lead the Bulldogs scoring 17 and 16 respectively. The Bulldogs tighten their control of the ball in the second half after having 12 turnovers at the half they only committed four in the second half. Fike finished with 27 turnovers and by the middle of the fourth quarter it looked as if they were ready to finish basketball season and as the #6 seed they are done for this year.
Nash Central also won the rebounding corralling 32 to Fike's 25. Demetrey Clark snatched the most boards for the Bulldogs hanging on to eight. Antonio Hinnant lead Fike with 12 points and he also gobbled up ten rebounds.
Nash Central now plays Rocky Mount Wednesday night in the semi finals as the 2/3 seeds collide. That will be the 7.30 game Wednesday.
The second game of the night looked in the middle of the second quarter that there just might be an upset opening night as Southern Nash lead Northern Nash by ten at 31-21 as Josh Sessoms the N C State football recruit poured in five three pointers but with 2.46 to go in the half he drew his second foul and he sat out til the half and by then Northern had tied up the game.
Midway in the third quarter when Northern hit forty for the game the Freeman Brothers had 36 of the Knights 40 points. Deshawn had 19 and Darius added 17. The only other points to that point belonged to Mitchell Wells who had scored the first four points of the game.
Other teammates began taking part and by games end Northern Nash had out scored Southern Nash 71-60. Northern committed only nine turnovers the entire night while the Firebirds gave it away 20 times. Northern won the rebound battle 30-23.
The Freeman Brothers finished with 24 point a piece. Kendrick Richardson scored nine points off the bench and all in the second half. Josh Seesoms finished with 23 for the Firebirds as he made seven three pointers on the night. Markus Hicks also tossed in 15.
Southern Nash must now wait for the pairings on Saturday night to see if they make the field as a number five seed from the Big East. Even if they are in you know they will draw a #1 seed out of another conference in the first round. Northern next plays Wednesday night at 6.00pm against the regular season champs Hunt in the semi finals.
I am glad to tell you that next Sunday night on the Stretchlon Sports Show we will be doing a live show featuring
