Dream Season? Charlotte Latin stops rival Country Day, improves to 15-1.
BY TIM DONELLI JANUARY 11, 2022 11:32 PM
The Charlotte Latin Hawks basketball team earned their first conference win as well as their 15th victory of the season Tuesday night, beating CISAA conference rival Charlotte Country Day 57-49. with a 57-49.
The Hawks never trailed in the game but weren’t able to put Country Day away until late in the fourth quarter. The Buccaneers trailed by as many as 13 points in the contest but trimmed the Latin lead to 38-37 early in the fourth. But the senior-ladened Hawks held their composure down the stretch to win by seven.
“Throughout the year we’ve been in that situation a couple of times,” said senior forward Brandon Lavitt when asked about weathering Country Day’s comeback effort. “We have a tight group of guys in the locker room that will handle adversity together. We have a senior-led team and we don’t have any underclassmen with all seniors and juniors, and we really know what it takes to pull out the win at the end of the game.”
Charlotte Latin had four players in double figures with Lavitt leading the Hawks and all scorers with 14 points. Jaylen Jones scored 13 points with Daniel Haughton and Ned Hull each adding 11 points for Latin.
Country Day had three players in doubles figures with Dallas Gardner leading the Bucs with 11 points. Amare Bethel and Fletcher Bingham had ten points a piece.
“It’s an exciting time,” said Latin coach Chris Berger. “November and December you want to play very good basketball, but in January and February you want to play your best basketball. We were thrilled to get our first conference win tonight.”
THREE WHO MATTERED
Daniel Haughton, Charlotte Latin: Senior guard was the Hawks third leading scorer, but scored six of his 11 points in the decisive fourth quarter.
Fletcher Bigham, Charlotte Country Day: Junior forward was the Bucs’ second leading scorer with ten points, including three, 3-pointers.
Jaylen Jones, Charlotte Latin: Senior guard had six of his 13 points in the first quarter to help the Hawks jump out to an 8-1 lead midway through the first quarter.
WORTH MENTIONING:
Country Day coach David Carrier did not coach Tuesday due to testing positive for Covid. Buccaneers’ assistants Chris Goodrum and Tom Mitchell served as interim head coaches…..Longtime Latin boys’ basketball coach Chris Berger was recognized Tuesday night for notching his 200th win in late December. Also recognized was Latin varsity girls’ basketball coach Eric Smith, who earned his 200th win on Dec. 28, and now has 203 wins. Smith accomplished his feat in two different stints as head coach of the girls’ basketball team with the Hawks, and has coached every season at Latin since 1993. When not coaching the varsity girls, Smith coached various other sports including at the junior varsity and middle school level.
WHAT’S NEXT: Country Day will play next at Covenant Day School this Friday at 7:00 p.m., while Latin plays at Providence Day Friday at 7:00 p.m.
THEY SAID IT: “We found our identity early. In years past we’ve kind of waited until conference play just to figure it out. But as soon as the first game hit, we’ve been a defensive team.” Senior Latin guard Jaylen Jones who talked about what has made this season’s Hawks’ team special.
RECORDS: Charlotte Country Day (13-7), Charlotte Latin (15-1)
CHARLOTTE LATIN 57, CHARLOTTE COUNTRY DAY 49
CD 9 11 10 19--49
CL 14 11 13 19--57
CD--Dallas Gardner 11, Amare Bethel 10, Fletcher Bingham 10, Alessi 9, Turner 5, Mermans 2, Murphy 2 CL--Brandon Lavitt 14, Jaylen Jones 13, Ned Hull 11, Daniel Haughton 11, Rose 6, Kaplan 2
Records: Latin 15-1, 1-0 Country Day 13-7, 0-1
BY TIM DONELLI JANUARY 11, 2022 11:32 PM
The Charlotte Latin Hawks basketball team earned their first conference win as well as their 15th victory of the season Tuesday night, beating CISAA conference rival Charlotte Country Day 57-49. with a 57-49.
The Hawks never trailed in the game but weren’t able to put Country Day away until late in the fourth quarter. The Buccaneers trailed by as many as 13 points in the contest but trimmed the Latin lead to 38-37 early in the fourth. But the senior-ladened Hawks held their composure down the stretch to win by seven.
“Throughout the year we’ve been in that situation a couple of times,” said senior forward Brandon Lavitt when asked about weathering Country Day’s comeback effort. “We have a tight group of guys in the locker room that will handle adversity together. We have a senior-led team and we don’t have any underclassmen with all seniors and juniors, and we really know what it takes to pull out the win at the end of the game.”
Charlotte Latin had four players in double figures with Lavitt leading the Hawks and all scorers with 14 points. Jaylen Jones scored 13 points with Daniel Haughton and Ned Hull each adding 11 points for Latin.
Country Day had three players in doubles figures with Dallas Gardner leading the Bucs with 11 points. Amare Bethel and Fletcher Bingham had ten points a piece.
“It’s an exciting time,” said Latin coach Chris Berger. “November and December you want to play very good basketball, but in January and February you want to play your best basketball. We were thrilled to get our first conference win tonight.”
THREE WHO MATTERED
Daniel Haughton, Charlotte Latin: Senior guard was the Hawks third leading scorer, but scored six of his 11 points in the decisive fourth quarter.
Fletcher Bigham, Charlotte Country Day: Junior forward was the Bucs’ second leading scorer with ten points, including three, 3-pointers.
Jaylen Jones, Charlotte Latin: Senior guard had six of his 13 points in the first quarter to help the Hawks jump out to an 8-1 lead midway through the first quarter.
WORTH MENTIONING:
Country Day coach David Carrier did not coach Tuesday due to testing positive for Covid. Buccaneers’ assistants Chris Goodrum and Tom Mitchell served as interim head coaches…..Longtime Latin boys’ basketball coach Chris Berger was recognized Tuesday night for notching his 200th win in late December. Also recognized was Latin varsity girls’ basketball coach Eric Smith, who earned his 200th win on Dec. 28, and now has 203 wins. Smith accomplished his feat in two different stints as head coach of the girls’ basketball team with the Hawks, and has coached every season at Latin since 1993. When not coaching the varsity girls, Smith coached various other sports including at the junior varsity and middle school level.
WHAT’S NEXT: Country Day will play next at Covenant Day School this Friday at 7:00 p.m., while Latin plays at Providence Day Friday at 7:00 p.m.
THEY SAID IT: “We found our identity early. In years past we’ve kind of waited until conference play just to figure it out. But as soon as the first game hit, we’ve been a defensive team.” Senior Latin guard Jaylen Jones who talked about what has made this season’s Hawks’ team special.
RECORDS: Charlotte Country Day (13-7), Charlotte Latin (15-1)
CHARLOTTE LATIN 57, CHARLOTTE COUNTRY DAY 49
CD 9 11 10 19--49
CL 14 11 13 19--57
CD--Dallas Gardner 11, Amare Bethel 10, Fletcher Bingham 10, Alessi 9, Turner 5, Mermans 2, Murphy 2 CL--Brandon Lavitt 14, Jaylen Jones 13, Ned Hull 11, Daniel Haughton 11, Rose 6, Kaplan 2
Records: Latin 15-1, 1-0 Country Day 13-7, 0-1
