Double Header Monday

The new Rocky Mount High School will host it's  first basketball playoffs ever Monday night when the defending 3-A State Champions the Rocky Mount Gryphons will play host to the #4 seed from the Coastal Conference Jacksonville 10-15 on the year.   So far in the new gym the Gryphons have lost only once.

The #1 seed  if they play this week as good as their record is 22-2 should find themselves heading to Fayetteville for the fourth straight  year in the East Regional.  The winner of this game will match up with The Currituck- South Brunswick winner and between them they have a total of 12 wins.  The other part of the bracket which would meet in game three there are only two teams with a winning record. That  would be D H Conley 15-11 #13 and C B Aycock #12  13-12 and those two could meet each other.  The biggest question for the Rocky Mount Gryphons is how is this week off going to effect them.  It surely looks like the Gryphons themselves will be their biggest obstacle until the Regional.

The first game of the night Monday will be the Lady Gryphons 15-9 playing in what will probably be the final appearance of J'Kyra Brown in the Rocky Mount Gym.  The Lady Gryphons play South Central 22-6 a team that beat them at Rocky Mount in December. Tip time is 6pm Monday  The winner of that game draws Northern Nash 21-1/Southern Wayne winner and that game will be at Northern if Northern wins..

So the Lady Gryphons get a tough bracket having to face South Central and if they are winners there will catch Northern Nash at Northern in round two.  If there has been one team that needed the week off it has been the Lady Gryphons with J'Kyra needing to get back to 100% healthy.  Injuries are a part of the game but many have forgotten that the Lady Gryphons lost Ty'Ais Cooper their starting point guard to a knee injury before the season started so the injury bug has not been kind to the Lady Gryphons this season.

Northern Nash  21-1 meet Southern Wayne 13-11 should breeze into the second round and they will either catch their top rival Rocky Mount or South Central.  Many of you may remember I said back in December that South Central had the type of lineup to give Northern trouble.  So the Lady Knights road to Fayetteville is more bumpy than the Rocky Mount boys.  It kind of shows you the difference in being a 1 over a 2 seed.

Hunt boys are hosting conference foe Nash Central Monday night while the fourth boys team Northern Nash heads to Triton  the #2 in the east bracket.  Hunt's girls open on the road at West Craven  and Nash Central travels to D H Conley

Rocky Mount Prep 19-3 the winners of the Independent tournament are seeded fifth and travel Southeast Halifax 8-13.  Since the Jags had to win the play in tournament they will travel throughout the playoffs.  Waiting in round two is the Southside13-13/Columbia12-12 winner.  Friday night in the Sectional finals Plymouth will probably be standing waiting on Prep as they stand 23-0 and lost last year in the 1-A State Final game in Chapel Hill.

I hope as easy as it has been to figure these brackets this week football will learn a lesson and go with the same format next year.  The only answers we needed to know this week is who was going to win conference tournament the format was laid out and drop in the names.