Rocky Mount Wins Twice Northern wins

The Rocky Mount Gryphons open the 2014 state playoffs as the number two seeds and earned home games.  The girls had to endure beating Nash Central for the fourth time and for more than a half the Lady Gryphons looked as if they didn't care whether the season ended tonight or not.  The only thing that kept them in the game was their defense didn't let the Buldogs score either.

 The Lady Bulldogs lead 11-4 after one when the Lady Gryphons fumbled the ball ten times.  It is hard to score when you can't get off a shot and most were fumble fingers turnovers not steals by the Bulldog defense.  Rocky Mount only had a single turnover in the second and putting up shots some went in and they lead 19-17 at the half.

Both teams traded buckets in the third with Nash Central out scoring the Gryphons 8-6 to make it all square after three 27 all.  The  fourth quarter to Carmen Richardson as she had 7 points  after three quarters but scored 9 in the fourth and point number three in the fourth pushed her to over a thousand for her career. The Lady Gryphon won the fourth 17-9 to advance to round  two.
Carmen Richardson ended with 16 points and 9 rebounds and TT Thomas scored10.  Michael Helms  My'ya Styles and Myra Spivey all scored 8 for the Bulldogs.

The night cap the boys took to the floor against a team similar to Hunt as far as size but no where  near the talent in the guards as Hunt has and the longer the game went the farther Eastern Guilford's shot got and they didn't make enough.  Several times in the third quarter the Gryphons led by 22 but the fourth quarter were  too many missed foul shots and too many turnovers and the Gryphons coast to. 77-63 win in round one.

 The first there quarters Asaiah Alston lit the the score board with 27 but did not score in the fourth. Dante Battle playing his last home game had 19 Points and 12 rebounds. Emmanuel King didn't do too bad either scoring 13 and hauled down 14 rebounds.  The Gryphons snatched 39 rebounds while limiting Eastern Guilford to 23.  Rocky Mount did a great job in the first half committing just 7 turnovers but in the second half bumped that total to 19.  The Wildcats had 11 miscues on the night.

Top Girls seed Northern  played with Fike for a half until the lowered the hammer in the second half winning 65-42.  It was 29-25 Northern at the half.

The big East top seeded boys Hunt beat Eastern Wayne 85-60 while Fike lost their first round game  85-78 to Westover. Hunt will host Westover Wednesday.

Rocky Mount  boys head Wednesday head to Havelock who defeated Cardinal Gibbons 68-55.  As I publish this have no word yet the outcome of the Grey's Crek ay Burlington Williams .  Williams has lost but three games all season and if Williams wins the Lady Gryphons head there Wednesday.

Let's Be Truthful

The NCHSAA basketball playoffs begin Monday and every team that takes part as of right this minute are dreaming of turning their seasons around and make magic happen.  Let's take of look at each in our area and see what are their chances.  Match ups  each and every game are very important and this review is not about who you will play but what each has to do or not do to advance.

We will start with the best chance to make it to the Regional the Lady Knights of Northern Nash.   They by far are the most complete team in the area.  They have an over all leader in Alexus Hill who does not have to score to be the leader.  She is how ever a great scorer when needed.  They are tall but any one taller in the playoffs they are athletic enough to  to neutralize the other teams size.

 They have a player would could make the all mud team in Susie Sykes.  She is the dive on the floor player who does what has to be done to win.  Most importantly they have an emerging point guard in Alexia Hines. She seems taller than she is  and plays excellent defense.  Quick on defense and on offense.  The team that beats them will have to out play them.

The Lady Gryphons are truly a team that has gotten every ounce from every player this year.  I said right here on this blog in early December they would be lucky to win eight games.  They have and MVP candidate in Carmen Richardson but after that where are the points coming from.  It has come this year from a group that was totally committed to playing the Pam Gainey defense. Nothing makes a team look any better that putting the ball in the hole and their defense makes plays.  The team that beats them will not let their defense bother them and will have too much offense for them to stop?

Nash Central has Mi'Ya  styles and there. is their weakness.  They have not developed any other offensive threats to threaten another teams defense.  I heard a coach from the bench last week say"stop Mi'Ya and you stop Nash Central.

How in the world did Fike  get in the playoffs over Southern Nash?  Better overall record.  The top three seeds were guaranteed spots and after that best overall record. Fike was 9-15 while Southern 8-15.  They have one player E J Proctor stop her and you stop Fike.

Hunt boys have an inside player in Josh Willingham at 6'6" is a quick player and he is the only player in the Big East that can match Rocky Mounts front line.  They have guards that if they switch jerseys you would never know it.  They are quick good defenders and all of them can shoot.  Have a great chance to make it to the a Regional and if they lose any where along the way it wil be a big team that can match their guards.

If there is one team hurt more by this weird schedule that two weeks of exams and two weeks of weather dealt this winter it was the Rocky Mpunt boys.  They have been in search for a point guard all season and practice is where you find players who step forward.  They begin the playoffs with the best front court in the east in Dante Battle and Emmanual King. They even have tall back up in Jaquell Bryant who while he is in the game make them tougher to score on inside.  Isaiah Alston and Brod Caudle are excellent outside shooters.  The team that beat RM will neutralize the front court and win the guard play.

That is what has happened in every Gryphon loss.  If Rocky Mount finds magic they can be a hard out for any one.  If they don't get great guard play this week the season will end without a fifth straight trip to the regional.


Southern Nash has their best all round team since I have been in this area.  They are a team of excellent shooters but no size at all.   Fike is as talented of a team in Big East as there is.  Seems they don't have the discipline down the stretch which points to guard play.  If they would catch fire they could go along way.  If not home early.

Pod System Is Back?

The playoff seedings are out and yes Rocky Mount's two basketball teams will be hosting Monday Night the time not yet established but Gryphons will have one more home game this year.  The Gryphon Boys are seeded 11th drawing East Guilford 16-6.  The girls seeded 12th get Nash Central seeded 21st.

To make things worse The number two overall seed Northern Nash gets a home game against Fike.  So the first round of the state playoffs the Big East will lose two teams without losing outside the conference.  By virtue of being the number two seed Northern could if they keep winning get the first three games at home.

Northern should they win Monday draw the winner of the 14/19 game Triton and Cleveland. Rocky Mount and Nash Central will send the winner to a Wednesday meeting to 8/25 winner as long as number eight West Brunswick wins.  West Brunswick is 8-14 if 25 wins Rockingham Co 12-10 wins then RM/NC winner would get a home game.  Hunt as the 17th seed is in same bracket as RM-NC  and should Hunt pull two major upsets could be a third game foe if Either is a live Friday.

Rocky Mount boys are paired up with three seed Terry Sanford 19-3-30 seed Morehead-7 seed NE Guilford15-7.  Should the Gryphons win and NE Guilford win the Gryphons hit the road Wednesday. Terry Sanford would be in waiting for that Wednesday winner if they win as expected.  Hunt is seeded 2nd  and Fike 23rd so that gas Fike in same bracket as Hunt and just might play their arch rival Friday if they both win twice this week.

Boy did Southern Nash and Rocky Mount do well in the State wrestling.  As a team Southern finished 4th with 57 points while Rocky Mount scored 50.  Southern 160 pound wrestler Jacoby Benjamin finished 2 nd .  Rocky Mount wrestler 120 pounds freshman Wilson Smith finished third.  RM wrestler 195 pounds Keyaad Coley finished 3rd.  220 pound Southern Nash wrestler Ryan Ashley finished 3rd.

  All of these wrestlers lost only one match all weekend.  Only Benjamin made it to the last match before he lost.   The final to wrestlers Southern's Jordan Lacrasse 4th at 126 and Rocky Mount wrestler Rahshaun Elliott finished 6th.  I don't know if both Southern and Rocky Mount have ever done so well at the same time as this year.

Simply Better

The Lady Nights of Northern Nash have played the Lady Gryphons four times and three times won by double digits.  Tonight with the Big East Tournament crown on the line Northern survives a valiant Gryphon effort but wins again.  They are simply better the the Gryphons. Northern wins the girls crown 52-45 but the game was a classic Northern -Rocky Mount dog fight

Three times  the Hunt Warriors  have tangled with Rocky Mount this season and twice they have won on Rocky Mount's  court.  Tonight the Gryphons gave a supreme effort and once again Hunt is simply better in the guard position. Rocky Mount trailed by 9 in the first quarter  but managed to take a six point lead in the third before Hunt made winning plays and win 68-61.

The scores don't reflect how close both of these games were. Tournament MVP Alexus Hill scored 19 most came down the stretch when Northern needed them most.  Smooth Kiana Thomas score 11 for Northern but she got11 rebounds which more than doubled any other Lady Knight.

Carmen Richardson lead Rocky Mount with 14 points but she sat almost all the third quarter with foul trouble.  Keyanna Spivey was Rocky Mount's only inside player who match Northern's inside game getting 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Twice this year Hunt has beaten Rocky Mount in close games in the last minutes.  Both times Hunt's guards made the plays getting the ball in the hands of the people who could make the plays while the Gryphon guards couldn't.

Tournament MVP Josh Willingham had the most points with 17 but he also was the only Warrior who could get inside of Rocky Mount's big men.  Justin Jeferson,Quan Kent scored from the outside and managed to get Willingham the ball.

Northern 22-1 a waits the seedings which should get them a number one seed in a sectional.  Hunt at 20-3 more than likely will receive a sectional number one but three losses will have them sweating the seeding announcement.  Both Rocky Mount teams should get two seeds which more than likely give Gryphons fans another home double header Monday. Remember that is not official until the seedings are announced Saturday afternoon.

Fifteen wrestlers from Nash County Took part in the state wrestling championship and every one won at lease one match.  Saturday is state championship day and one Jacoby Benjamin 160 pounds from Southern Nash will be the only one with a shot to win a state title.

Three others are still in the running to finish as high as third.  Keyaad Coley 195 from Rocky Mount has won three of his four matches.  Also still alive for third are Jordan Decosse 126 Southern Nash and Wilson Smith 120 from Rocky Mount.

Top Dogs Advance

Hunt the Number  one seed in Big East had to contend with county rival Fike in the semi finals of the Big East tournament and had to grind away to advance to the final beating Fike 77-59 while in the night cap host and number two seed Rocky Mount played the number three seed Southern Nash and both played about as sloppy of a first half as you can get tying 19-19.  The Gryphons came out and smoked Southern in the third period scoring 30 while holding Southern to 15 and that was enough to get Rocky Mount into Friday night's final winning 66-52.

Hunt had four scorers in double figures with Josh Willingham leading the way with 22, Justin Jefferson 16'Keenon Tabron 13 and Quan Kent 11.  Fike countered with two double figure scorers MyQuan Gooding 14 and Trevon Virgil 12.  Both teams collected 31 rebounds but Fike's  down fall was they committed 21 turn overs  while making Hunt miscue only 12 times.

Hunt jumped to a 20-6 first quarter lead and Fike never got any closer than seven at any time rest of the night.  Hunts wins their 19th with only three losses and Fike after starting 12-0 fall to 18-7 with all seven losses coming at the hands of Big East teams.

Rocky Mount had to rely on the rebounding advantage  getting 44 to only 20 by the Firebirds.  Emmanual King scored 19 points 13 rebounds.  Shooting guard Asaiah Alston   scored 19 and he almost got a double double getting 9 caroms.  Donte Battle rounded out the double double game getting 11 points and 13 boards.

Southern was lead by Bryan Vines  who had 15 points and Aaron Newkirk was the Firebirds rebound leader getting 6. Both teams on the night had 17 turnovers.

Fike and Southern Nash now must wait for the playoff seeding on Saturday to see where they go while Rocky Mount and Hunt have one more game Friday night in Big East finals at 7:30.  Rocky Mount and Northern Nash meet in the girls finals for the fifth year in a row.  I'll be working the girls game for TV while Wes Bradshaw will do the boys game.

After one round of the state 3-A wrestling championship  Rocky Mount who sent Six wrestler to Greensboro five are winners in their opening matches giving Rocky Mount  12 points which is good for fifth.  Southern Nash is 14th with six points.
Wilson Smith  RM 120 pounds wins by fall--- Rahshaun Elliot RM 145 wins 5-2---Joseph Cooper RM 145 wins 6-1---Keyaad Coley RM 195 wins 10-3---Jeffery Person RM 285 wins 3-2 OT.  The only Gryphon loser was Enciso Jorge who lost 3-2.

Dakota Medina SN 106 lost by fall---Jordan Decosse SN won 4-0---Clinton Whitaker SN 145  lost by fall---Ryan Ashley SN 220 won 2-0.

Steven Joyner NC 170 won by fall.  All other Nash County wrestlers lost their opening match and fall into the losers bracket where they will try to work their way back up to at least 3rd.  I can't tell you for sure but Rocky Mount is in position to finish as high ss they have ever finished in wrestling.

Who Else Did You Expect

Tonight the top two teams in the Big East top ranked Northern Nash made hay in knocking off the fourth place team Nash Central 64-30 while in the night cap Rocky Mount the second seed edged Hunt the third ranked team 52-49.

The Lady Gryphons and Lady Warriors went tooth and nail through the first half. They were tied at 14 after the first quarter. hunt biggest lead of the night was 20-16 but by the end of the half the Lady Gryphons had tied it at 28. The first six minutes of the third remained nip and tuck but Gryphon pressure push a 34 all tie to 40-34 at the end of three.

Nursing a six point point lead with just over four minutes to the Gryphons tried holding on to the ball against the taller Warriors but poor passing and the Warriors defense created a 44-44 tie and the next two minutes plus the Gryphons went back to attacking the basket and  Carmen Richardson scored
The last eight points for the Gryphons.

Rocky Mount kept Hunt in the game making only 10 of 24  free throws but Richardson made four of five the last few minutes.  Their reward is a championship game meeting with Northern who has already beat them by double digits three times this year.

Richardson scored 27 on the night and the Gryphon shooting guard added 10 rebounds.  Keyanna Spivey delivered down low against the taller trees of Hunt scoring 13 point and pulling down 8 rebounds.

Alexus Williams lead Hunt with 15 points and 11 rebounds.  Brianna Pate scored 11 as the only other double digit scorer.  Hunt at 14-9 now waits for the NCHCAA playoff seeding which I doubt they will get a home game in the playoffs next week.

There was some comments made the last time Nash Central played Northern by coach Terry Cash that the MVP of the Big East was her guard Ni'Ya Styles.   If I had a vote I would vote for Alexus Hill of Northern.  Tonight Hill put an exclamation point in front of Terry Cash as to why she should be the MVP.  Hill scored  23 points, 10 rebounds, had six assists could of had three more but two shots were missed by team mates  while another was fouled while shooting.  To add more to her MVP resume' she had three steals and two blocked shots.

Kiana Thomas delivered 20 points and 9 rebounds.  C C Harrison plucked down 15 rebounds as Northern Nash delivers a knock out blow to Nash Central 64-30.  Central made it a game through the first half as the score was just 31-21.  When you only score 9 points in the second you get a blow out.

Ni'ya Styles lead Nash Centralwith 12.  Krystal Atkinson pull down 7 rebounds for Central but no other Lady Bulldog had more than 5.  Northern at 22-1 will now play Rocky Mount  for the Big East tournament title Friday night at 6pm.  Both Rocky Mount and Northern for Rocky Mount at least one home game while Northern should get three home games in the sectional if they keep winning.

Ho Hummers

Monday night the second game of the Big East Tournament saw a classic girls game going into overtime before the highest seeded team could pull out the victory. Tuesday night the boys hit the hardwood for the first time and neither of the higher seeds were pressed.  In the opener Southern Nash decided they were not going to let the Bulldogs beat them twice in a row after NC upset Southern Saturday at Southern.  Focused the Firebirds  roll 66-42

The night cap saw Fike beat Northern Nash  70-50  with the Knights staying within striking distance until the fourth quarter when the Golden Demons  finally started making foul shots.  Middle of the
Third Fike was only 3-13 at the free stripe but finished 15-26 on the night. They pulled away when they made points every trip while Northern stayed close when the were missing free points.

The opener Southern out rebounded Central  36-28, made less turnovers 15-17 and had more help scoring points as three hit double figures while the Bulldogs had only one. Nash Central lead at the half 23-21 but Southern out scored the Bulldogs  45-19 in the second half.  To say the least Nash Central varsity boys have had a tough athletic year losing all 11 football games and going 5-18 in basketball.

Marquise Wright lead the Firebirds with 16.  Joining him in the double digit category were Emmanual Merriweather 11 and Richard Hall also with 11.  Aaron Spivey scored 15 for Central.  Aaron Newkirk grabbed 7 rebounds while Daniel Pittman garnered 6 for Nash Central.

The night cap saw Fike's Trevor Virgil throw down 29 points and also getting above 20 was Myquan Gooding with 22. Gooding pulled down 8 rebounds while Virgil had 7.  Darryl Prunty put 19 in the hole for Northern and Isacc Dupree doubled down wth ten.

The crowds to say the least have been sparse  but I believe the pace will pick up starting Wednesday night when the top two girls team take to the floor in a double header.  The opener will send the top dog in Big East girls basketball Northern Nash taking on Nash Central.  With three of the four teams left in the girls action being from Nash County and the fourth Hunt already a winner this week on Rocky Mount's home court plus won when they played here two weeks ago both of these games could fill the gym. The second game Wednesday has Hunt against Rocky Mount.

Thursday the final four in the boys action will send top seeded Hunt a loser only three times all year meeting their arch Rival Fike while the night cap on Thursday will have the home team Gryphons on the floor hosting Southern Nash.  I think these two match ups should also fill the house.

Should all for of the top seeds win they would meet Friday that would send number two Rocky Mount against Northern Nash Girls.  The boys game could match Top seed Hunt and Rocky Mount and you know both those games will fill the house.