Cyclones rout Ridgecroft to get quarterfinal date with Greenfield
By Jimmy Lewis Wilson Daily Times
By this time in the season, the Community Christian School varsity boys basketball team has formed an identity.
It’s a thin identity at best, with a six-player rotation and a one-two-three punch of sophomore Anthony Speight, junior Khouri Carvey and senior Anthony Speight.
The Cyclones of head coach Roland Loftin wouldn’t have it any other way.
CCS matched the high-water mark of its program Thursday afternoon, outrunning and outgunning visiting Ridgecroft to reach the quarterfinals of the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A playoffs with a runaway 83-49 victory.
As the No. 3 seed on the East side of the bracket, the Cyclones now get a game with No. 2 Greenfield School in the quarterfinals. It’s just the second time in school history that CCS has played this deep into the season after improving to 8-4 on a day that doubled as Senior Day for Gattis and Jacob Harper. With Harper out, team manager Graham Norville donned a uniform to give the Cyclones a single substitute.
“They deserve all the attention that they’re getting because they work really hard,” Loftin said of his key trio. “I was glad we got the win, because it was Senior Night for Andrew. He’s put in a lot of work through the years, so I’m happy for him and Jacob as well.”
Ridgecroft, champions of the Tarheel Independent Conference, ended its season with a 10-3 record.
However, behind Carvey, Speight and Gattis, CCS of the Mid-Carolina Conference showed off the league’s relative strength by leaving a league frontrunner several steps behind.
CCS never trailed and after opening the game with a 12-7 advantage, closed the first quarter on a 12-4 spurt to lead by double digits. By halftime, Speight and Carvey were running up and down the floor with impunity, and a 59-18 halftime lead assured that the clock would run continuously in the second half.
Carvey, who added four inches of length since his sophomore campaign at Fike High, put that added edge to good use against Ridgecroft. His paint touches bore fruit to the tune of 28 points and 18 rebounds, including three steals and three assists. The playmaking skills of Speight, the owner of three more inches to his wingspan, added another double-double with 25 points and 11 assists.
As Ridgecroft collapsed inside on Carvey, Gattis made the defense pay. Hailed by Loftin as the “best shooter I’ve ever coached,” Gattis finished with 18 points — all via six 3-pointers.
“We make it work,” Loftin said of a six-player rotation. “And at the beginning of the season, I said, less Is more. Because in today’s times, you’ve got to deal with so many attitudes, When you have less that come together, that makes it work. And I love them. They’ve stuck with me throughout this year. A lot has happened and went on, and they’ve been right by my side.
Ridgecroft did not help its cause in the early stages, missing layups under the basket and not connecting on quality looks from the outside. As such, it was buried in the second quarter by the three-headed avalanche of CCS. Gattis hit four of his six 3-pointers during a 35-point explosion for the Cyclones in the second quarter, and a trey from freshman Tavares Williams to end the first half invoked the running clock with a 41-point lead.
Speight terrorized Ridgecroft in transition, while Carvey seemingly played volleyball under the basket with rebounds.
“I can just play around the rim now,” Carvey said. “I love the team. We all play together, spending some time in the gym trying to get together and work on our chemistry. So we should be able to do better next season as well.”
A tight-knit roster is by design for Loftin, who along with Gattis, spend previous time at Beddingfield.
“I was at Beddingfield man, and we’ve got 14, 15 players,” Loftin said. “Everybody’s fussing, and everybody wants to play. But this team, everybody accepts their roles. Like Jacob and Landon, they know Khouri, Andrew and Anthony are our scorers. So they’re literally trying to get them the ball and just playing together.”
The CCS lead reached as many as 43 early in the third on a Carvey jumper.
Now, Saturday’s Greenfield-CCS matchup takes on a different dynamic besides the crosstown rivalry aspect. Loftin is the stepfather of Greenfield guard TyChaun Clay, which means rooting interests will have to be put aside for a day.
“I’m Greenfield’s biggest fan, and he’s CCS’s biggest fan besides our own teams,” Loftin said of Clay. “He comes to my games, I go to theirs. It will be different, but I’m just glad we get a chance to play them.”
RIDGECROFT (49)
Peterson 7, Chamblee 5, Hauser 4, Porter 19, Jernigan 4, Slachta 2, Brown 6.
CCS (83)
Carvey 28, Speight 21, Gattis 18, Williams 5, Beamon 11.
Score by quarters:
Ridgecroft 11 7 18 3 — 49
CCS 24 35 14 10 — 83
By Jimmy Lewis Wilson Daily Times
By this time in the season, the Community Christian School varsity boys basketball team has formed an identity.
It’s a thin identity at best, with a six-player rotation and a one-two-three punch of sophomore Anthony Speight, junior Khouri Carvey and senior Anthony Speight.
The Cyclones of head coach Roland Loftin wouldn’t have it any other way.
CCS matched the high-water mark of its program Thursday afternoon, outrunning and outgunning visiting Ridgecroft to reach the quarterfinals of the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A playoffs with a runaway 83-49 victory.
As the No. 3 seed on the East side of the bracket, the Cyclones now get a game with No. 2 Greenfield School in the quarterfinals. It’s just the second time in school history that CCS has played this deep into the season after improving to 8-4 on a day that doubled as Senior Day for Gattis and Jacob Harper. With Harper out, team manager Graham Norville donned a uniform to give the Cyclones a single substitute.
“They deserve all the attention that they’re getting because they work really hard,” Loftin said of his key trio. “I was glad we got the win, because it was Senior Night for Andrew. He’s put in a lot of work through the years, so I’m happy for him and Jacob as well.”
Ridgecroft, champions of the Tarheel Independent Conference, ended its season with a 10-3 record.
However, behind Carvey, Speight and Gattis, CCS of the Mid-Carolina Conference showed off the league’s relative strength by leaving a league frontrunner several steps behind.
CCS never trailed and after opening the game with a 12-7 advantage, closed the first quarter on a 12-4 spurt to lead by double digits. By halftime, Speight and Carvey were running up and down the floor with impunity, and a 59-18 halftime lead assured that the clock would run continuously in the second half.
Carvey, who added four inches of length since his sophomore campaign at Fike High, put that added edge to good use against Ridgecroft. His paint touches bore fruit to the tune of 28 points and 18 rebounds, including three steals and three assists. The playmaking skills of Speight, the owner of three more inches to his wingspan, added another double-double with 25 points and 11 assists.
As Ridgecroft collapsed inside on Carvey, Gattis made the defense pay. Hailed by Loftin as the “best shooter I’ve ever coached,” Gattis finished with 18 points — all via six 3-pointers.
“We make it work,” Loftin said of a six-player rotation. “And at the beginning of the season, I said, less Is more. Because in today’s times, you’ve got to deal with so many attitudes, When you have less that come together, that makes it work. And I love them. They’ve stuck with me throughout this year. A lot has happened and went on, and they’ve been right by my side.
Ridgecroft did not help its cause in the early stages, missing layups under the basket and not connecting on quality looks from the outside. As such, it was buried in the second quarter by the three-headed avalanche of CCS. Gattis hit four of his six 3-pointers during a 35-point explosion for the Cyclones in the second quarter, and a trey from freshman Tavares Williams to end the first half invoked the running clock with a 41-point lead.
Speight terrorized Ridgecroft in transition, while Carvey seemingly played volleyball under the basket with rebounds.
“I can just play around the rim now,” Carvey said. “I love the team. We all play together, spending some time in the gym trying to get together and work on our chemistry. So we should be able to do better next season as well.”
A tight-knit roster is by design for Loftin, who along with Gattis, spend previous time at Beddingfield.
“I was at Beddingfield man, and we’ve got 14, 15 players,” Loftin said. “Everybody’s fussing, and everybody wants to play. But this team, everybody accepts their roles. Like Jacob and Landon, they know Khouri, Andrew and Anthony are our scorers. So they’re literally trying to get them the ball and just playing together.”
The CCS lead reached as many as 43 early in the third on a Carvey jumper.
Now, Saturday’s Greenfield-CCS matchup takes on a different dynamic besides the crosstown rivalry aspect. Loftin is the stepfather of Greenfield guard TyChaun Clay, which means rooting interests will have to be put aside for a day.
“I’m Greenfield’s biggest fan, and he’s CCS’s biggest fan besides our own teams,” Loftin said of Clay. “He comes to my games, I go to theirs. It will be different, but I’m just glad we get a chance to play them.”
RIDGECROFT (49)
Peterson 7, Chamblee 5, Hauser 4, Porter 19, Jernigan 4, Slachta 2, Brown 6.
CCS (83)
Carvey 28, Speight 21, Gattis 18, Williams 5, Beamon 11.
Score by quarters:
Ridgecroft 11 7 18 3 — 49
CCS 24 35 14 10 — 83
