#1 Falls At Big East

There is a fear by every coach that getting a by is not such a great thing due to the fact as you sit while others play. Tonight for the second year in a row the top seed has been taken down in the semi final round. Last year Nash Central brought down the #1 Gryphons at Hunt and tonight Northern Nash takes out the #1 seed Hunt.

The first quarter was a run and gun affair and when the smoke had settled both sides were tied 22-22. The trio of the Freeman Brothers Darius and Deshawn plus guard Michael Bracket paced the Knights to jump on the Warriors and by the end of the third quarter Northern lead 56-42. That's when Hunt made a push and cut the lead to three and that was as close as they could get.

Coach Rick Ruffin put in most of his second unit in the game with 43 seconds to play in the half and little used player Lorenzo Wilkins made a 55 foot shot at the half. He was about half way between the foul line and mid court when it let it sail. That made the score at the time 34-27 Northern at the half but when the final tally of 68-65 is on the scoreboard then that shot at the half is the difference in the ball game.

Deshawn Freeman lead Northern with 22 points and grabbed 11 rebound. Brother Darius collected 18 and Michael Bracket tossed in 17. Those three players scored 57 of Northern's 68. Hunt was lead by Tyrell Vinson with 21 and Quinn Ballard 12. Northern won the rebounding 32-20. Northern committed 14 turnovers and surprising Hunt only turned it over 8 times in the game.

Game two on the evening the home standing Rocky Mount Gryphons the #2 seed took on #3 seed Nash Central Bulldogs and from the Get go the home team Gryphons were aggressive on offense and solid on defense and lead by 13 at the end of the first quarter. They added the lead to 16 at the half and never let the lead in the second half get less than ten before downing the Bulldogs 76-62.

Terrell Hilliard score 20 on the night to lead the Gryphons and hauled down 8 rebounds. Tevin Taylor and Exzavier Cooper hit double digits with 11 each. Tecoby Hines add 10.

Jalen Hendricks score 22 for the Bulldogs but he was the only Bulldog to hit double digits. Rocky Mount had the edge in rebounding 44-38. Rocky Mount also had 14-13 lead in turnovers. There were 61 foul shots in the game as Rocky Mount took 33 while the Bulldogs had 28. The Gryphons made 22 while Central made 20.

This sets up the Northern- Rocky Mount boys final Friday night at 7.30. Even though they lost tonight Hunt still heads to the playoff next week as the #1 in the Big East. Should Northern Win they would get the #2 seed away from Rocky Mount so really what the teams are fighting for Friday night is a first round home game and the #2 seed. If Northern gets second Rocky Mount would fall to third and hit the road and Nash Central would fall to fourth. If Northern loses then they would go into the playoffs as the #4 seed.

Thursday night is back to girls actions as #1 Rocky Mount will take on Hunt at 6.00pm and Northern will face Fike in the night cap. If Northern and Rocky Mount both win tomorrow then that will set up an all Northern-Rocky Mount double header final Friday.

This weekend Division one college baseball season starts and Xavier Macklin(Nash Central) and NCA&T will travel to Campbell for a weekend series and of course Ben Fish (Rocky Mount)plays for the Camels. It is about as close as you will get to see two former stars from this area on the field against each other this season.

UNC Pembroke with Alex Pearce of Nash Central is off to and 8-0 start and Alex has started four of the games. So far has collect only one hit on the season but at the moment he is the starting catcher for the #18 team in the country in D2 baseball.