NCISAA Finals Rundown
The NCISAA had their championships over this past weekend and some familiar names took home the hardware. Here is a breakdown of the 1-A, 2-A and 3-A championship games.
1-A
Greenfield School vs Trinity Christian
The 1-A division championship game featured two teams that are no strangers to winning state titles. Greenfield School led by UNC recruit Coby White
and Trinity Christian led by Duke recruit Joey Baker squared off at Forsyth Country Day in Winston-Salem in the 8PM game. Greenfield School started out the game taking a 12-8 first quarter lead and leading by one after intermission 26-25. A strong third quarter by both teams would end in Trinity Christian taking a 45-43 lead going into the fourth quarter with Trinity Christian claiming another state title for Head Coach Heath Vandevender 70-62. Duke recruit Joey Baker scoring 16 points and grabbing six rebounds. 2019 forward Greg Gantt has 18 points and 14 rebounds and solidified himself as one of the top 3-4 players in the state for the junior class. 2019 forward Au’diese Toney had 17 points and 5 rebounds. 5’10 PG KJ Marshall had 16 points and 5 assists for The Crusaders. Head Coach Heath Vandevender had this to say about his team, “So proud of all the guys and this memory, very emotional for me as well.” Coby White led Greenfield School with 25 points and will suit up next season at North Carolina.
2-A
Carmel Christian vs Gaston Day
The first game of the day went into two overtimes before a winner was crowned. A back and forth game throughout, Gaston Day took control in the 4th quarter and rallied to a 10 point lead with 2019 guard Donovan Gregory on the sideline with foul trouble. The third quarter would end up being the Donovan Gregory show, as the 6-foot-5 guard went off. He scored on almost every possession Carmel Christian had and willed his team back in it for a chance to win in regulation.
Myles Pierre took care of the rest. With 37 seconds remaining, Pierre held the ball until ten seconds remained and he drove to the basket and threw up an awkward one handed leaner that fell through the basket to give Head Coach Byron Dinkins another title.
Pierre would finish with 28 points, seven rebounds, six steals and five assists. Donovan Gregory had 19 points and sophomore Ford Cooper had some huge shots playing for injured Marten Maide (Liberty recruit) while scoring 13 points.
Gaston Day’s Nate Hinton, a Houston recruit scored 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four assists in front of Houston assistant coach Kellen Sampson. Unsigned senior MJ Armstrong scored 18 points in the loss for Gaston Day.
3-A
Greensboro Day vs Wesleyan Christian
The battle of the state’s two top ranked teams, two great coaches’ and some star power on each roster was the storyline for the 3-A finals. Wesleyan Christian had already beaten Greensboro Day twice this season and as the saying goes, “I wouldn’t want to try and beat Freddy Johnson three times”, rang true tonight. The Hall of Fame coach led Greensboro Day to a 10th state championship in a game that was really never close.
Clemson bound senior John Newman was his regular, “I am better than you, I will out hustle you”, self. He scored 24 points, came up with big rim-rattling dunks, and showed me again why he is one of the most high-energy players I have ever covered. Freshman Carson McCorkle was huge for The Bengals, knocking down three-pointers and finishing with contact in transition while scoring 15 points in the win. Senior guard Tripp Greene easily had the best game I have ever seen him have, scoring 11 points, all of which came at crucial parts of the game.
This was a big win for Will Dillard, who did not get to play in the last few weeks because of a blood-clot in his lung. This was a win for Will.
Greensboro Day held Jaylen Hoard scoreless. Hoard is a top-20 ranked player on the national level and has signed with Wake Forest.
Maryland signee Aaron Wiggins had 18 points for Wesleyan. Keyshaun and Kobe Langley had 11 points and 4 respectively.