On The Verge Of History?

Late Friday night Rocky Mount Prep joined both of the Rocky Mount High school teams as Saturday will be Rocky Mount day at the Eastern Regional.  Prep destroyed West Columbus 88-57 to advance to the Regional 1-A final where they will play Plymouth.   Gryphon girls play at noon, Gryphon boys play at 2pm and  the Prep Jags finish up the night at 6pm.   It will take enormous research to figure out whether one city has ever had three of it's school in the Regional finals all the same day.

Never in the history of Rocky Mount High have both the women and men played the same year with a chance to win a Regional Championship.  Saturday at high noon the girls play Burlington Williams a team that will do everything in their power  to stop Rocky Mount girls from getting to Chapel Hill.  No one has to this point and why has no one been able to?

Reason #1 is J'Kyra Bown.  There is no doubt she is a division one basketball player.  She has that something inside of her  that will not let her lose.  The reason this team wins is J plays within the team concepts and only takes over when it is time.  The past two weeks there have been moments that either Northern or West Craven could take control but she did instead.

Reason #2  Pam Gainey has adjusted her methods of attack in the last four meetings against Northern.  That shows me  she and her staff  are very capable of making the right decisions at the right time.

Reason #3  Every player on this team knows their role.  Tia Hudgins get rebounds and play defense.  Alexus Cooper helps control the ball and is excellent on defense.  Carmen Richardson has blossomed into a  spark plug on both defense and can help on offense.  Amani Kipp the biggest surprise of the season.  She needs to stay out of foul trouble.  Ty'ais Cooper  Ball handler from off the bench who can play D.  Kelsey Daniels is four minutes  per half on dominance in the middle on D. She is all elbows but any point from her is a bonus.

All the pieces fit.  If they fit for two more games  they just might?

Reason #1 for the boys:  Best thing that happen to this team was going to the Holiday Tournament and getting beat twice when they could have won  both.  Mike Gainey message of playing hard all the time finally hit home.

Reason #2;  Terrill Hilliard is a great teammate. Can score but loves to get an assist  for a teammate.  This team has so many options Terrill doesn't have to get 20 every night.

Reason #3.  This team seems to have everyone peaking together.  Donte Battle is just realizing as a sophomore he is a horse in the middle.  If he wants to be he can be unstoppable.  K J Peoples if he finds the right college could blossom into a all conference player at the next level. Levon Brutus, if he was six foot tall would be a D-1 basketball prospect.  Like K J if he finds the right school he could score 20 every night. Tabias Hilliard the guy who handles the ball and plays D.  Doesn't mind if he doesn't score.

 Tevin Taylor has one pretty jump shot and if he is on can bury a team in 30 seconds with the outside shot.  The Hines Brothers, Mason and Michael. There is no letup with them in the game.  They play great D but between them can get 10 points a game off the bench. Jaquell Bryant doesn't score when backing up Donte but there is no letup on D.

Then when rest of the bench plays they are better than anybody else's bench.  When I say bench I'm talking about players  #10-15 .

Reason #4  Taller and faster than most other teams.

Just two more to get.  One note which might be in Rocky Mounts favor.  The Gryphons won a state title in baseball in 2008, basketball in 2010 and this is an even year 2012.

There's Only Four Left

Sometime in the early evening of March 10th there will be a girls basketball team that will hoist up a plaque in victory marking a State Championship.  There is only four teams left that can do that.  Out in the West Hickory the #1 seed in their sectional (28-1) will be playing Harding High (23-3) from Charlotte.  In the West bracket  they are a #7 seed.  The east will have the Gryphons 26-2 #2 in the sectional seed facing off with Burlington Williams the #2 seed from their sectional.  The winners of these two games one in Greensboro and the other in Fayetteville will meet for the State Crown at 5pm in the Dean Dome Saturday night March 10th.  The Lady Gryphons will wear white as the home team Saturday.

The boys also are down to four.  Out west a familiar name Concord is still alive.  They sit with a 27-2 record.  They play North Forsyth 24-4 for the right to head to the Hill on March 10th.  Crown Coliseum will host the Gryphons (26-3) and   Triton High from Erwin 26-3.  Both of these teams were seeded #2 in their sectional and due to the fact that the Big East has a higher priority this year over  the Mid State Rocky Mount will be the home team Saturday.

After thoughts of what I have seen so far in the 3-A Regional.  I see no reason why if Northern Nash had of been placed in the other Sectional Northern and Rocky Mount would have played for a fifth time .  Instead of the Sectional finals but the Regional Final.  Bad timing for trying the POD system in basketball.

If you see this blog on a daily basis you know early on I told you that the Lady Gryphons were not tall enough in the middle to win it all.  Amani Kipp has improved her game  so  much since Christmas.  All of a sudden there are two layers of defense a team must penetrate to score on the Lady Gryphons.  First they must negotiate the full court pressure that the guards apply and if you beat that either Kipp or Kelsy Daniels are there waiting.  West Craven wilted to the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter  and so did Northern Nash in the Sectional final.

One of the reporters covering West Craven boys  with about two minutes to go in the game whispered to me that he thought everyone with West Craven was surprised at the Gryphon speed.  They knew Rocky Mount was bigger but they thought their speed could off set that.  They didn't realize that the Gryphons were as quick as they were. There  was a play during the game that one of their guards put on an NBA move to get by our guards and after the moved he thought he had a clear lane to the bucket but K J Peoples was standing there  to bat his shot in the seats.  The Gryphon defense smother the Eagles just like the girls had done to their girls.

I have disappointing news to report.  We have not been able to work it out for the radio broadcast for this weekend.  We have been told that if both or either teams makes it to Chapel Hill we have a go to do radio.  Sure would like to do a Gryphon doubleheader from the hill.

First Time Ever

For the first time in Rocky Mount Basketball history, both the mens team and the womens team will play in the Regional Championship Game Saturday at Crown Colisuem. Much in the same fashion as the ladies did last night the Gryphons cruised in the fourth quarter and beat the number 1 seed in the Sectional West Craven Eagles 73 to 53.

The Rocky Mount Gryphons basketball team came to Fayetteville to take on the 29 and 1 West Craven Eagles. The Gryphons come in to this game under extreme pressure. Not only are they playing a once defeated team but they certainly want to do as good as the Gryphon girls and win a regional basketball game. Once inside the arena we discovered that Coach Mike Gainey is a little under the weather. To add to the Gryphons problem the girls basketball team had practice this afternoon and was bringing the cheerleaders to the game and they were late getting to the coliseum.

The opening tap was won by West Craven and in a matter of seconds they had a 2 to 0 lead. A quick turnover by the Gryphons and a 3 point basket by West Craven and the score was 5-0. The Gryphons finally settled in to play and took control of the first quarter. Gryphon big man Donte Battle led the way scoring 6 points in the first quarter. The leading scorer for the Eagles, Josh Cuthbertson was shut out in the first quarter and the Gryphons lead 19 to 10.

The second quarter was pretty even and Cuthbertson did not like Lavone Brutus being in his shirt on defense which led to a technical foul on both players and the Gryphons led 24 to 14 and all the way to the half it was pretty even with the Gryphons leading 36 to 26 at the half.

The Eagles came out with a surge to start the third quarter and cut the lead to 7 but the Gryphons responded and pretty much kept WC at bay the remainder of the quarter.. The Gryphons had foul trouble as Donte Battle had to sit with more than 4 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter with 4 fouls. Mike Gainey and his coaching staff decided to go to a zone defense to protect other players who were also nearing foul trouble. Now in a zone defense the WC offense was not able to penetrate to the basket and had to rely on outside shouting and their offense momentum stalled. The Gryphons led 52 to 40 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The fourth quarter the Gryphons went to a more spread offense and many of their points came on back door with layups at the baskets. By games end the Gryphons had stretched the game to 20 and the subs were in. KJ Peoples led the Gryphons scoring 18 but there was plenty of help to go around as Terrill Hillard had 13, Lavone Brutus and Donte Battle had 12 each.

The top 2 scorers for WC were held to 22 points. Josh Cuthbertson had 11 and Aaron Tate had 11. Tyrone Brown also contributed 11. In the end, the Gryphons had too much defense for the Eagles.

IT'S A GOOD NIGHT TO BE A GRYPHON!!!

  Both mens and womens teams with play Saturday in the Regional finals with the girls tap off at Noon and the boys to follow at about 2:30. We are at this time hoping to carry both games on WZAX 99.3 . The next Rocky Mount team to play will be the Jaguars of Rocky Mount Prep who play in the 1-A semi's on Friday night. There is a good chance that you can come to Fayetteville Saturday and watch 3 Rocky Mount teams. If the Jags win Friday night they will play at 6:00pm Saturday.