2/16/18
WAKE FOREST — Thursday marked the Semifinals in the inaugural Boys NAC-6 Tournament. Both games were played at Heritage because the Huskies did finish an unbeaten, 10-0 in conference play. The host Huskies met Rolesville in the first semifinal while the three seed, Wakefield battled the two seed, Knightdale in the night cap.
MBB: #4 Rolesville vs #1 Heritage
#1 Heritage (20-4, 11-0) protected home court Thursday as they knocked off #4 Rolesville (15-10, 6-6), 70-59. For Heritage, success all comes down to the impact and play of their two future Division-One players, Jayden Gardner (East Carolina) and Jarren McAllister (Virginia Tech). Well Thursday, Gardner and McAllister showed up, especially in the second half to help secure their teams’ spot in Friday’s Championship game.
Gardner and McAllister combined for 42 points and 34 rebounds against the Rams Thursday. Gardner scored a Heritage high, 23 points and grabbed 24 rebounds. Yes, Jayden “Beast Mode” Gardner hauled in more rebounds than he scored points. He’s an animal, a dawg, or whatever you want to call him — confirmed. The future ACC talent, Jarren McAllister would not be denied in the box score, of course. McAllister poured in 19 points and had himself 10 rebounds as that accounts him for a double-double. The future Hokie also dished our six assists, created three steals, and had two rejections. “Stat stuffer” can be a named dubbed to McAllister, no doubt.
Gardner and McAllister did get help from two underclassmen. Junior point guard Dyson Pender is normally a “pass first” guy. Thursday, Pender scored 13 points and only distributed two assists. Very uncharacteristic, yet needed game from the junior. Sophomore Tre Waller also had himself a solid night as he scored eight points, including two threes.
Rolesville senior Ricky Clemons had himself two “disappointing” performances in the two previous meeting against the Huskies. 11 points, five assists, and six rebounds in the teams’ meeting on Feb. 5 and 15 points this past Friday. 11 and 15 point night’s don’t seem that bad, but when you average 19.2 per game on the season and 17.4 for your career, you expect more out of a talent like his. Thursday, Clemons finished with 17 points (6/12 FG), three steals, and two assists. Nine of those 17 came in the second quarter where Rolesville cut the Heritage lead to just 32-25 at halftime.
With 6:15 to play in the third, Rolesville had cut that Husky lead to just two as they opened the half on a 7-2 run and Jaylin Parker got four of his 12 on the game in that stretch. Heritage coach Tilden Brill III called a timeout at the 6:15 mark and woke his team up, McAllister especially because he had nine of his 19 in the third. It also did not help the Rams that Parker (Rolesville’s point guard) picked up his fourth personal early in the third and had to sit. That led to the 20-10 run in that final 6:15 of the third stanza.
Also for Rolesville, Dominique “Dom” Johnson and Jordan Cooper each scored nine in the game. To go along with Johnson’s nine points, he grabbed 10 rebounds.
Every time Rolesville would get a key basket, Heritage responded on the other end with one or found themselves at the foul line. So with that, Heritage took the first semifinal of the night by 11 to punch their ticket to the first-ever NAC-6 Championship game at their place on Friday night.
MBB: #3 Wakefield vs #2 Knightdale
A little too close for comfort for Knightdale (17-6, 8-3) coach Anthony Byrd but he will take it, as his Knights put down Wakefield (17-9, 6-6) in the second semifinal Thursday, 59-56. Wakefield trailed basically the entire game until they went on a 19-5 run in the fourth to make this one interesting in the final minutes. Knightdale handled business on both the defensive end and at the foul line to seal the victory. The Knights shot 3/5 (60%) from the charity stripe in the fourth but JV call-up, Rodney Ellis hit two much needed free throws late to propel Knightdale to victory. Just an assumption here, but those two free throws were probably the two biggest of Ellis’ basketball career as he is only a freshman.
Senior Cole Johnson and junior Shayne Saigo combined for 28 points, 14 each to lead Knightdale. Johnson knocked down four of his six attempted triples Thursday en route to his 14 point night while Saigo scored 10 of his 14 in the opening half. Another JV call-up, and a freshman for that matter stepped up as well for the Knights Thursday. Jaylen McDonald scored nine points including a left handed throw down in the fourth as he put Wakefield’s Trent Wilson in a poster. Xavier Fennell also added seven for Knightdale.
Balanced scoring night for sure for Wakefield. After scraping by Corinth Holders Tuesday to get to “Semifinal Thursday”, they almost gutted out another victory over Knightdale. Juniors Trae Smith and Elijah Shabazz showed up yet again Thursday. Smith led Wakefield with 12 points while Shabazz added 10 points. Six of the 10 from Shabazz came in the fourth, including four free throws late. Sophomore Vernon Fraley also scored 10 points, Nyeem Smiley added seven and Wakefield got six from both Michael Gbondo and Trent Wilson.
I just mentioned how Wilson scored six points. The senior wing hit two threes in the second half that were “clutch” for Garrett Stevens’ squad. Wilson not only hit the three with 1:57 left that cut the Knightdale lead to 57-54 at the time, but he made a hustle play with eight seconds to play that gave the Wolverines a chance to win it in the end. Wilson, unfortunately for the Wolverine faithful had both of his threes in the final eight ticks rim off to send Knightdale to the Championship game.
Friday night is “Championship Friday” in the Northern Athletic Conference. The Girls Championship will tip-off at 5:30 between the hosts, Heritage (one seed) and Wakefield (two seed). In the night cap, #1 Heritage will meet #2 Knightdale. Heritage swept Knightdale where the Huskies won by six and 17 in two meetings. Should be a great night of basketball in the NAC-6 so if you’re able, go out to Heritage High to catch some of the best basketball in the “Hoop State”.
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