'What high school basketball is all about': Spartans pull away from Royals in state playoff battle of Burlington teams
David Kehrli
Times-News
The gymnasium at The Burlington School was filled to the brim with spectators Thursday evening.
Large students sections representing both the Spartans and visiting Burlington Christian Academy brought energy and noise throughout the night.
Cars lined the streets in the neighborhood surrounding the school after its parking lot filled to capacity.
They were all there to see some of the top high school basketball talent in Alamance County. And, they got what they came for, the two teams battling it out with intensity and passion from both sides.
“It’s what high school basketball is all about,” TBS coach Ryan Bernardi said. “In-city, rival student sections. Gym was hot. That’s what high school basketball is all about. It was just great to be a part of that game, and I hope we can do it again.”
The top-seeded Spartans pulled away in the second half by attacking the paint and finally finding their touch from 3-point range, ending in an 81-48 victory over No. 8 seed BCA in the second round of the NCISAA Class 2-A state playoffs for boys’ basketball.
Five TBS players finished in double-digits scoring — Shane Peterson (17 points), Kheni Briggs (13), Michael Nwoko (12), Avion Pinner (11) and Zion Walker (10) — as the Spartans depth helped propel them to their first victory of the state playoffs after receiving a bye in the first round.
“We have five guys averaging double figures and seven guys averaging nine or more,” Bernardi said. “I thought we just kind of wore them down with our depth. I think our guys are so bought in to playing unselfishly, giving up good for great. High assist numbers. Any one of our guys could go be a star somewhere else, but I’m grateful that they’ve all sacrificed to be here, and hopefully we can get rewarded.”
The Spartans (27-7 overall) will play host to either No. 4 seed Fayetteville Academy or No. 5 seed Freedom Christian in a third-round game Saturday. Thursday night’s second-round game between Fayetteville Academy and Freedom Christian was not finished due to a fight breaking out.
Josiah Watkins and Lebron Reels provided 11 points apiece to pace the Royals (13-10), who played much of the game with top-end hustle and effort, clearly not intimidated by the environment or opponent.
“I would love a different end result, but I’m proud the effort these guys put forth,” BCA coach Eric Dudley said. “They bought in to what we talked about in practice this week. I just felt like the effort for the first three quarters, I felt like we could hang with just about any team. A lot of people didn’t give us a chance. They keep up with social media and all that stuff. We see it. We heard all the chatter. But, my guys came in and competed. They played hard. They showed that they’re not gonna be a walk-over.”
BCA jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the first quarter as Watkins was aggressive and Reels drained a 3-pointer to get the Royals going. The environment fueled the Royals, who weren’t given much of a chance by outsiders entering the game.
“I think we definitely fed off of it,” BCA senior Brock Matheny said. “It’s kind of our first time playing against a really loud student section. Really ruthless, to be honest with you. But, we really just fed off of it. I think it motivated us to come out here and try to shock the world. We don’t like the result, but we really fought, and I think part of that was because of the crowd.
“We definitely don’t like the loss, but at the same time, nobody thought we were going to win. Everybody counted us out. We heard a ton of noise, social media. I think that just helped us be ready to fight and just go to the end. I’m happy with how our guys played. To go against the No. 1 team in the state and stay neck and neck with them for three quarters, that’s good for us.”
Watkins scored nine of his 11 points in the first half as he refused to back down from the competition or the stage.
“Josiah has played hard all season,” Dudley said. “He’s our point guard. We’re gonna put the ball in his hands and we’re going to trust him.”
Bernardi came away impressed by the effort put forth by BCA, a program he previously coached during the 2018-19 season.
“Huge credit to BCA. I thought their guys came ready, prepared,” Bernardi said. “Eric did an unbelievable job preparing them to play. They were ready to go. We came out with some jitters. What a great crowd we had in there, but I thought it impacted our guys in the first quarter. I did like how we turned it around in the second half with our energy and our defense. Our start was a credit to BCA and how they came out and played.”
The Spartans held a 35-26 lead at halftime, but the message in the locker room was to attack the rim for the remainder of the game after shooting 1-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half.
“Get to the basket and find open threes,” Pinner said. “We’re gonna have to knock them down eventually. So, we just had to find our way into it. Getting to the rim first was more important.”
Pinner brought supportive energy for his TBS teammates while both on and off the court, Bernardi said.
“I was born doing it. I was yelling and screaming since I was young,” Pinner said. “It just carries onto the court in a positive way. I just build up my teammates and they feed off my energy, so I try to keep positive energy so we can play good.”
Walker scored seven consecutive points for TBS in the third quarter, by following the halftime instructions of attacking, to help extend the lead to 53-36 heading into the fourth quarter.
“We wanted to change our mindset from settling for threes to attacking to score,” Bernardi said. “Zion’s strength is finishing at the rim. So, that was a huge stretch he had for us.”
The Burlington School's Zion Walker puts a shot up while being surrounding by multiple Burlington Christian Academy defenders.
Once the Spartans did that, the outside shots began to fall. Peterson made four 3-pointers in the second half.
“Shane’s first three was a sigh of relief,” Bernardi said. “He’s just been so steady this year, shooting over 40 percent from three. That first half was bizarre the way we shot it. We normally shoot it very well here. Credit to BCA. Their zone was good. Coach Dudley had those guys prepared and it impacted us for sure.”
BCA entered the contest with a game plan of forcing the Spartans into outside shots because of their ability to score when attacking inside, Dudley said.
“Our job was to take away the inside,” he said. “We knew they were bigger than us and we were going to take our chances with the shooters. Shane got hot in the second half. It is what it is. We knew we would give it up, but we were OK with that, because we didn’t want to get beat down low.
“I felt like we were hurting ourselves by turning the ball over and taking quick shots. We wanted to be patient. We wanted to slow them down. I felt like we did that for the first three quarters. Then it kind of just got away from us because we were turning the ball over, we were getting tired because we weren’t rebounding. They were getting second-chance opportunities.”
BCA senior Kenny Kidd finished with nine points.
David Kehrli is a sports reporter at the Burlington Times-News and USA Today Network. You can reach him at david.kehrli@thetimesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidKehrliTN. Subscribe to the Burlington Times-News here.
David Kehrli
Times-News
The gymnasium at The Burlington School was filled to the brim with spectators Thursday evening.
Large students sections representing both the Spartans and visiting Burlington Christian Academy brought energy and noise throughout the night.
Cars lined the streets in the neighborhood surrounding the school after its parking lot filled to capacity.
They were all there to see some of the top high school basketball talent in Alamance County. And, they got what they came for, the two teams battling it out with intensity and passion from both sides.
“It’s what high school basketball is all about,” TBS coach Ryan Bernardi said. “In-city, rival student sections. Gym was hot. That’s what high school basketball is all about. It was just great to be a part of that game, and I hope we can do it again.”
The top-seeded Spartans pulled away in the second half by attacking the paint and finally finding their touch from 3-point range, ending in an 81-48 victory over No. 8 seed BCA in the second round of the NCISAA Class 2-A state playoffs for boys’ basketball.
Five TBS players finished in double-digits scoring — Shane Peterson (17 points), Kheni Briggs (13), Michael Nwoko (12), Avion Pinner (11) and Zion Walker (10) — as the Spartans depth helped propel them to their first victory of the state playoffs after receiving a bye in the first round.
“We have five guys averaging double figures and seven guys averaging nine or more,” Bernardi said. “I thought we just kind of wore them down with our depth. I think our guys are so bought in to playing unselfishly, giving up good for great. High assist numbers. Any one of our guys could go be a star somewhere else, but I’m grateful that they’ve all sacrificed to be here, and hopefully we can get rewarded.”
The Spartans (27-7 overall) will play host to either No. 4 seed Fayetteville Academy or No. 5 seed Freedom Christian in a third-round game Saturday. Thursday night’s second-round game between Fayetteville Academy and Freedom Christian was not finished due to a fight breaking out.
Josiah Watkins and Lebron Reels provided 11 points apiece to pace the Royals (13-10), who played much of the game with top-end hustle and effort, clearly not intimidated by the environment or opponent.
“I would love a different end result, but I’m proud the effort these guys put forth,” BCA coach Eric Dudley said. “They bought in to what we talked about in practice this week. I just felt like the effort for the first three quarters, I felt like we could hang with just about any team. A lot of people didn’t give us a chance. They keep up with social media and all that stuff. We see it. We heard all the chatter. But, my guys came in and competed. They played hard. They showed that they’re not gonna be a walk-over.”
BCA jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the first quarter as Watkins was aggressive and Reels drained a 3-pointer to get the Royals going. The environment fueled the Royals, who weren’t given much of a chance by outsiders entering the game.
“I think we definitely fed off of it,” BCA senior Brock Matheny said. “It’s kind of our first time playing against a really loud student section. Really ruthless, to be honest with you. But, we really just fed off of it. I think it motivated us to come out here and try to shock the world. We don’t like the result, but we really fought, and I think part of that was because of the crowd.
“We definitely don’t like the loss, but at the same time, nobody thought we were going to win. Everybody counted us out. We heard a ton of noise, social media. I think that just helped us be ready to fight and just go to the end. I’m happy with how our guys played. To go against the No. 1 team in the state and stay neck and neck with them for three quarters, that’s good for us.”
Watkins scored nine of his 11 points in the first half as he refused to back down from the competition or the stage.
“Josiah has played hard all season,” Dudley said. “He’s our point guard. We’re gonna put the ball in his hands and we’re going to trust him.”
Bernardi came away impressed by the effort put forth by BCA, a program he previously coached during the 2018-19 season.
“Huge credit to BCA. I thought their guys came ready, prepared,” Bernardi said. “Eric did an unbelievable job preparing them to play. They were ready to go. We came out with some jitters. What a great crowd we had in there, but I thought it impacted our guys in the first quarter. I did like how we turned it around in the second half with our energy and our defense. Our start was a credit to BCA and how they came out and played.”
The Spartans held a 35-26 lead at halftime, but the message in the locker room was to attack the rim for the remainder of the game after shooting 1-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half.
“Get to the basket and find open threes,” Pinner said. “We’re gonna have to knock them down eventually. So, we just had to find our way into it. Getting to the rim first was more important.”
Pinner brought supportive energy for his TBS teammates while both on and off the court, Bernardi said.
“I was born doing it. I was yelling and screaming since I was young,” Pinner said. “It just carries onto the court in a positive way. I just build up my teammates and they feed off my energy, so I try to keep positive energy so we can play good.”
Walker scored seven consecutive points for TBS in the third quarter, by following the halftime instructions of attacking, to help extend the lead to 53-36 heading into the fourth quarter.
“We wanted to change our mindset from settling for threes to attacking to score,” Bernardi said. “Zion’s strength is finishing at the rim. So, that was a huge stretch he had for us.”
The Burlington School's Zion Walker puts a shot up while being surrounding by multiple Burlington Christian Academy defenders.
Once the Spartans did that, the outside shots began to fall. Peterson made four 3-pointers in the second half.
“Shane’s first three was a sigh of relief,” Bernardi said. “He’s just been so steady this year, shooting over 40 percent from three. That first half was bizarre the way we shot it. We normally shoot it very well here. Credit to BCA. Their zone was good. Coach Dudley had those guys prepared and it impacted us for sure.”
BCA entered the contest with a game plan of forcing the Spartans into outside shots because of their ability to score when attacking inside, Dudley said.
“Our job was to take away the inside,” he said. “We knew they were bigger than us and we were going to take our chances with the shooters. Shane got hot in the second half. It is what it is. We knew we would give it up, but we were OK with that, because we didn’t want to get beat down low.
“I felt like we were hurting ourselves by turning the ball over and taking quick shots. We wanted to be patient. We wanted to slow them down. I felt like we did that for the first three quarters. Then it kind of just got away from us because we were turning the ball over, we were getting tired because we weren’t rebounding. They were getting second-chance opportunities.”
BCA senior Kenny Kidd finished with nine points.
David Kehrli is a sports reporter at the Burlington Times-News and USA Today Network. You can reach him at david.kehrli@thetimesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidKehrliTN. Subscribe to the Burlington Times-News here.
