Greensboro Day claims NCISAA 3-A state title
BY TIM DONELLI
Special to the News & Record
CHARLOTTE — Two rivals,three games and the same results. Despite losing star forward J.P. Moorman to an ejection in the third quarter, Greensboro Day used its depth for a 63-60 victory over Wesleyan Christian Academy to claim the 3-A NCISAA state title Saturday at Charlotte Latin.
It was the second state title in the past three seasons for the Bengals, who are ranked No. 11 nationally by MaxPreps and No. 23 by USA Today, and another championship for Greensboro Day coach Freddy Johnson.
Solomon Smith’s 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left broke a deadlock. “I knew I had a purpose in the game, and when I pulled it, I knew it was going in,” Smith said. “It was a great feeling.”
It was a another bitter pill for the Trojans, who lost two regular-season encounters to Greensboro Day by a combined seven points.
“We did a great job on the boards today, I thought, even though they had some great offensive rebounds,” Johnson said. “Wesleyan Christian is a very talented and well coached basketball team. To beat a team like that three times took our best effort in all three games.”
The Trojans were attempting to win their first state title since back-toback championships in 2013 and 2014. The game was back and-forth throughout. The biggest lead for the Trojans was six points, and Greensboro Day’s biggest advantage was eight with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
But a 12-point fourth quarter by Wesleyan’s Jaylen Hoard helped the Trojan’s whittle the deficit. Hoard’s 3-pointer with 45 seconds left tied the game at 60 before Smith’s game-winning 3-pointer.
Sophomore Drew Greene entered the game midway in the fourth quarter and had two timely steals to aid Wesleyan’s comeback effort.
“It’s unfortunate that it came to the end like that, but it’s what it is,” Greene said. “(The loss) going to make me work 10 times harder than I already work, and I’m not going to try and have this feeling again for the rest of my career.”
With two-and-a-half minutes left in the third quarter, a skirmish broke out between the two teams. There was pushing and shoving between Moorman and Wesleyan’s David Caraher. The two were ejected along with the Trojans’ Shawn Walker Jr.
Moorman and Caraher were leading their teams in scoring at the time of the altercation with 11 and 13 points, respectively. A spectator who came on the court during the skirmish was removed from the facility by police.
Smith and John Newman finished with 14 points each, while Jordan Perkins added 12 and Moorman 11 for Greensboro Day.
Asked how this state title ranked with his others, Johnson gave an emotional reply. “They’re all really important, but this one’s been more important because our kids came together,” he said. “People didn’t think we had a chance to be in the top group, the top four teams with all the good teams in the state. I think the four seniors that we had did a great job.”
Wesleyan 16 17 11 16—60
Greensboro Day 20 13 15 15—63
Greensboro Day (33-3): Solomon Smith 14, John Newman 14, Jordan Perkins 12, J.P. Moorman 11, Dillard 6, Landry 4, Fowler 2.
Wesleyan (28-4): Jaylen Hoard 23, David Caraher 13, Steere 9,Thompson 4, Wiggins 4, Walker 3, Austin 2, Greene 2.
BY TIM DONELLI
Special to the News & Record
CHARLOTTE — Two rivals,three games and the same results. Despite losing star forward J.P. Moorman to an ejection in the third quarter, Greensboro Day used its depth for a 63-60 victory over Wesleyan Christian Academy to claim the 3-A NCISAA state title Saturday at Charlotte Latin.
It was the second state title in the past three seasons for the Bengals, who are ranked No. 11 nationally by MaxPreps and No. 23 by USA Today, and another championship for Greensboro Day coach Freddy Johnson.
Solomon Smith’s 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left broke a deadlock. “I knew I had a purpose in the game, and when I pulled it, I knew it was going in,” Smith said. “It was a great feeling.”
It was a another bitter pill for the Trojans, who lost two regular-season encounters to Greensboro Day by a combined seven points.
“We did a great job on the boards today, I thought, even though they had some great offensive rebounds,” Johnson said. “Wesleyan Christian is a very talented and well coached basketball team. To beat a team like that three times took our best effort in all three games.”
The Trojans were attempting to win their first state title since back-toback championships in 2013 and 2014. The game was back and-forth throughout. The biggest lead for the Trojans was six points, and Greensboro Day’s biggest advantage was eight with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
But a 12-point fourth quarter by Wesleyan’s Jaylen Hoard helped the Trojan’s whittle the deficit. Hoard’s 3-pointer with 45 seconds left tied the game at 60 before Smith’s game-winning 3-pointer.
Sophomore Drew Greene entered the game midway in the fourth quarter and had two timely steals to aid Wesleyan’s comeback effort.
“It’s unfortunate that it came to the end like that, but it’s what it is,” Greene said. “(The loss) going to make me work 10 times harder than I already work, and I’m not going to try and have this feeling again for the rest of my career.”
With two-and-a-half minutes left in the third quarter, a skirmish broke out between the two teams. There was pushing and shoving between Moorman and Wesleyan’s David Caraher. The two were ejected along with the Trojans’ Shawn Walker Jr.
Moorman and Caraher were leading their teams in scoring at the time of the altercation with 11 and 13 points, respectively. A spectator who came on the court during the skirmish was removed from the facility by police.
Smith and John Newman finished with 14 points each, while Jordan Perkins added 12 and Moorman 11 for Greensboro Day.
Asked how this state title ranked with his others, Johnson gave an emotional reply. “They’re all really important, but this one’s been more important because our kids came together,” he said. “People didn’t think we had a chance to be in the top group, the top four teams with all the good teams in the state. I think the four seniors that we had did a great job.”
Wesleyan 16 17 11 16—60
Greensboro Day 20 13 15 15—63
Greensboro Day (33-3): Solomon Smith 14, John Newman 14, Jordan Perkins 12, J.P. Moorman 11, Dillard 6, Landry 4, Fowler 2.
Wesleyan (28-4): Jaylen Hoard 23, David Caraher 13, Steere 9,Thompson 4, Wiggins 4, Walker 3, Austin 2, Greene 2.
