2-12-22 roundup: Pro basketball and football, College basketball and baseball, High school basketball
By Richard Walker
Mountain Island Charter’s boys track team took a second straight state title on Friday night as they won the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1A/2A indoor track championship in Winston-Salem.
The Raptors won the 2021 1A outdoor track title last spring.
In Friday’s title-winning effort, Mountain Island Charter had 57 team points to finish eight ahead of second-place Burlington Cummings.
Trevin Moyer led the Raptors by setting set new 1A/2A meet records in the 55-meter dash and 500-meter run with times of 6.25 seconds and 1:05.31, respectively. The effort earned Moyer the men’s outstanding performer award.
Mountain Island Charter’s 800-meter relay team of Jeremiah Moses, Jonavon Fisher, Reggie Taylor II and Jaylin Milton-Hall also were state champions with a time of 1:34.58.
In the girls meet, Highland Tech’s Lauren Tolbert added another individual state title with a 2:58.68 clocking in the 1,000-meter run.
The Duke University signee, Tolbert has now won six individual NCHSAA titles – five in track and one in cross country.
High school basketball
Piedmont Community Charter’s girls basketball team won its first outright league title on Friday night with a 43-42 win over Bradford Prep.
Grace East (17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 assists, 1 block), Hailey Moore (10 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks), Kennedy Williams (10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block), Kaylee Nolen (4 points, 2 rebounds), Lauren French (2 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block), Jaeda Austin (5 rebounds), Lyric Brown (4 rebounds) and Steffany Davila (1 assist) lead coach Holly Gibby’s team.
The Patriots (10-5 overall, 6-0 in Metro 8 1A) was one of five teams that shared the 2021 Southern Piedmont 1A Conference title.
Here are some other Friday girls results:
South Point 53, North Gaston 40: Maddie Frank had 14 points, Lexi Birtwistle 13, Toney Milton 10 and Amya Graham eight for South Point. Graham also had 16 rebounds.
West Lincoln 68, Lincolnton 42: Chloe Norman and Farrah Richardson had 17 points apiece, Anna Biederich had 12 and Carolina Robinson had 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Conference tournaments begin this week. Here’s a look at area pairings:
Big South 3A
Monday’s boys first round: North Gaston at Crest, Forestview at South Point, Huss at Kings Mountain, Ashbrook at Cramer.
Monday’s girls first round: Cramer at Ashbrook, South Point at Crest, Forestview at Kings Mountain, North Gaston at Huss.
Western Foothills 3A
Monday’s boys first round: West Iredell at Hickory, St. Stephens at North Lincoln, Foard at East Lincoln, Statesville at North Iredell.
Monday’s girls first round: West Iredell at East Lincoln, North Iredell at Foard, North Lincoln at Hickory, Statesville at St. Stephens
Southern Piedmont 1A/2A
Tuesday’s boys first round: Shelby-bye, East Gaston at Cherryville, Highland Tech at Bessemer City, Thomas Jefferson at Burns
Tuesday’s girls first round: Shelby-bye, East Gaston at Burns, Highland Tech at Thomas Jefferson, Cherryville at Bessemer City
Catawba Valley 2A
To be determined
College basketball
Gardner-Webb 88, Charleston Southern 63: The Runnin’ Bulldogs (15-10, 9-3) won their sixth straight as Lance Terry scored 24 points and D’Maurian Williams 21.
Rhode Island 72, Davidson 65: The Wildcats (20-4, 10-2) suffered their first true road loss to the Atlantic 10 rival Rams.
UNC Pembroke 91, Belmont Abbey 75: Chandler Baker’s 13 points led the Abbey (15-9, 13-7).
UNC Pembroke 61, Belmont Abbey women 57: Brittany Autry had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Abbey (15-7, 13-5).
College baseball
Gaston College continued it successful baseball program restart on Saturday with a doubleheader sweep of Wake Tech at Ting Park in Holly Springs in the Region 10 openers for both teams. The Rhinos improved to 7-0 on the season with 7-3 and 11-2 victories over the host Eagles and will go for a three-game sweep on Sunday at noon.
Pro basketball
The Charlotte Hornets fell behind by as many as 35 points before rallying within four in the fourth quarter of a 125-118 home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night.
The loss dropped the Hornets to 29-29 overall following their seventh loss in eight games.
Terry Rozier (35 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists) nearly had a second straight triple double and LaMelo Ball (25 points) and Montrezl Harrell (20 points) also had big nights for Charlotte, which trailed by 68-33 in the second quarter and was down 78-45 in the third quarter before getting as close as four three times in the final two minutes, the last time at 119-115 with 1:12 to play.
Here is the Charlotte Hornets’ full regular season schedule (with results):
OCTOBER
Wed. 20 INDIANA (W 123-122)
Fri. 22 at Cleveland (W 123-112)
Sun. 24 at Brooklyn (W 111-95)
Mon. 25 BOSTON (L 129-140, OT)
Wed. 27 at Orlando (W 120-111)
Fri. 29 at Miami (L 99-114)
Sun. 31 PORTLAND (W 125-113)
NOVEMBER
Mon. 1 CLEVELAND (L 110-113)
Wed. 3 at Golden State (L 92-114)
Fri. 5 at Sacramento (L 110-140)
Sun. 7 at LA Clippers (L 106-120)
Mon. 8 at L.A. Lakers (L 123-126, OT)
Wed. 10 at Memphis (W 118-108)
Fri. 12 NEW YORK (W 104-96)
Sun. 14 GOLDEN STATE (W 106-102)
Wed. 17 WASHINGTON (W 97-87)
Fri. 19 INDIANA (W 121-118)
Sat. 20 at Atlanta (L 105-115)
Mon. 22 at Washington (W 109-103)
Wed. 24 at Orlando (W 108-99)
Fri. 26 MINNESOTA (W 133-115)
Sat. 27 at Houston (L 143-146, OT)
Mon. 29 at Chicago (L 119-133)
DECEMBER
Wed. 1 at Milwaukee (L 125-127)
Sun. 5 at Atlanta (W 130-127)
Mon. 6 PHILADELPHIA (L 124-127, OT)
Wed. 8 PHILADELPHIA (L 106-110)
Fri. 10 SACRAMENTO (W 124-123)
Mon. 13 at Dallas (L 96-120)
Wed. 15 at San Antonio (W 131-115)
Fri. 17 at Portland (L 116-125)
Sun. 19 at Phoenix (L 106-137)
Mon. 20 at Utah (L 102-112)
Thu. 23 at Denver (W 115-107)
Mon. 27 HOUSTON (W 123-99)
Wed. 29 at Indiana (W 116-108)
JANUARY
Sun. 2 PHOENIX (L 99-133)
Mon. 3 at Washington (L 121-124)
Wed. 5 DETROIT (W 140-111)
Sat. 8 MILWAUKEE (W 114-106)
Mon. 10 MILWAUKEE (W 103-99)
Wed. 12 at Philadelphia (W 109-98)
Fri. 14 ORLANDO (L 109-116)
Mon. 17 at New York (W 97-87)
Wed. 19 at Boston (W 111-102)
Fri. 21 OKLAHOMA CITY (W 121-98)
Sun. 23 ATLANTA (L 91-113)
Tue. 25 at Toronto (L 113-125)
Wed. 26 at Indiana (W 158-126)
Fri. 28 L.A. LAKERS (W 117-114)
Sun. 30 LA CLIPPERS (L 90-115)
FEBRUARY
Wed. 2 at Boston (L 107-113)
Fri. 4 CLEVELAND (L 101-102)
Sat. 5 MIAMI (L 86-104)
Mon. 7 TORONTO (L 101-116)
Wed. 9 CHICAGO (L 109-121)
Fri. 11 at Detroit (W 141-119)
Sat. 12 MEMPHIS (L 118-125)
Tue. 15 at Minnesota 8:00
Thu. 17 MIAMI 7:00
Fri. 25 TORONTO 7:00
Sun. 27 DETROIT 7:00
Mon. 28 at Milwaukee 8:00
MARCH
Wed. 2 at Cleveland 7:00
Sat. 5 SAN ANTONIO 7:00
Tue. 8 BROOKLYN 7:00
Wed. 9 BOSTON 7:00
Fri. 11 at New Orleans 8:00
Mon. 14 at Oklahoma City 8:00
Wed. 16 ATLANTA 7:00
Sat. 19 DALLAS 7:00
Mon. 21 NEW ORLEANS 7:00
Wed. 23 NEW YORK 7:00
Fri. 25 UTAH 7:00
Sun. 27 at Brooklyn 7:30
Mon. 28 DENVER 7:00
Wed. 30 at New York 7:30
APRIL
Sat. 2 at Philadelphia 12:30
Tue. 5 at Miami 7:30
Thu. 7 ORLANDO 7:00
Fri. 8 at Chicago 8:00
Sun. 10 WASHINGTON TBD
Pro football
The 2021-22 NFL playoffs:
(AFC 1st round)
1. Tennessee (12-5) – bye
4. Cincinnati (11-7) 26, 5. Las Vegas (10-8) 19
3. Buffalo (12-6) 47, 6. New England (10-8) 17
2. Kansas City (13-5) 42, 7. Pittsburgh (9-8-1) 21
(NFC 1st round)
1. Green Bay (13-4) – bye
2. Tampa Bay (14-4) 31, 7. Philadelphia (9-9) 15
6. San Francisco (11-7) 23, 3. Dallas (12-6) 17
4. Los Angeles (13-5) 34, 5. Arizona (11-7) 11
(AFC, NFC semifinals)
AFC
Cincinnati (12-7) 19, Tennessee (12-6) 16
Kansas City (14-5) 42, Buffalo (12-7) 36, OT
NFC
San Francisco (12-7) 13, Green Bay (13-5) 10
Los Angeles (14-5) 30, Tampa Bay (14-5) 27
(AFC, NFC championship games)
NFC
Los Angeles (15-5) 20, San Francisco (12-8) 17
AFC
Cincinnati (13-7) 27, Kansas City (14-6) 24, OT
(Super Bowl)
Feb. 13 – L.A. Rams vs. Cincinnati, 6:30 p.m.