Rocky Mount-Hickory - NCHSAA 3-A Boys Championship Capsules

 

ROCKY MOUNT HIGH SCHOOL

Gryphons

Location: Rocky Mount

Colors: navy blue and gold

Conference: Big East

Principal: Leondus Farrow

Athletic Director: Michael Gainey

Head Coach: Michael Gainey

Record: 26-3

Rocky Mount seeks its fifth men's NCHSAA state basketball title in its seventh trip to the finals…Gryphons' last appearance in 2010 when they beat Concord 84-79… beat Chapel Hill 61-58 for 4-A title at Greensboro Coliseum in 1982…other state titles in 1963 and '78, runner-up in 1972 and '81…beat Erwin Triton 82-67 for Eastern Regional championship, with five in double figures led by Terrill Hilliard with 25 points, the Eastern Regional Most Valuable Player …Hilliard is averaging 19.0 ppg and 7.8 rebounds; he was Big East Conference Player of Year and Big East tournament MVP, and he'll play in North Carolina-South Carolina all-star game…Lavon Brutus scores at 13.0 ppg clip and was MVP of Nash County tournament…Dante Battle adds 9.5 ppg to go with 6.6 rebounds…Tevin Taylor contributes 8.7 ppg, Kenneth Peoples 7.9 ppg in balanced attack… Tabias Hilliard hands out 3.1 assists per game…Rocky Mount ranked second in the state among 3-A men’s teams in final regular season poll by NCPreps.com…22-8 a year ago and lost in regional semifinals.

HICKORY HIGH SCHOOL

Red Tornadoes

Location: Hickory

Colors: red, white, varsity gold

Conference: Northwestern

Principal: Ann Stalnaker

Head Coach: Shawn Johnson

Record: 28-3

Hickory is in the NCHSAA men’s basketball championship for the third time and is still looking for its first state title in the sport…made back-to-back appearances in 1996-97, losing to Burlington Williams 78-58 in '96 and then losing on dramatic three-pointer at buzzer by Andy Jones to lift East Chapel Hill by Hickory 60-59 the following year…beat Concord in overtime 81-75 to clinch Western Regional crown, with Zach Jarrett scoring 16 points in regional title game…Hickory has won five consecutive conference championships…Raheim Connelly was Most Valuable Player of conference tournament; he had 19 points, including four threes, in regional semifinal win over Freedom…excellent defensive team…team has won five straight Catawba Valley Christmas tournaments…Red Tornadoes were rated as the number six team in final 3-A men’s regular season poll by NCPreps.com….Shawn Johnson in his eighth year as head coach at Hickory and played on state championship team during his high school career at Eden Morehead.

Rocky Mount-Hickory state title basketball game on the air

If for some reason you can't be in Chapel Hill Saturday evening to watch the boys basketball teams from Rocky Mount and Hickory battle it out for the NCHSAA 3-A state championship, catch the action on radio.

Wes Bradshaw, Tony Doughtie and Paul Andre will bring you all the action on Power 95.5 FM - WPWZ. Bradshaw will be the play-by-play man, Doughtie will handle the color commentary and Andre will cover the court's sidelines for inside information on the game.

The broadcast will begin with a hour -long pregame show at 6:30 p.m. Tip-off is set at 7:30 p.m. followed by a postgame show.

Here are the sponsors who are helping to bring this broadcast back to the Twin Counties:

Hardee's
Batts, Batts and Bell, Attorneys at Law 
RMHS Booster Club
Nick Falk, Attorney at Law
Hunter Hill Cafe
Lilley International 
Rick Williams Auto Mart
Shaq's After Dark
Melvin Mitchell Allstate Insurance
Gabe Rowe Nissan
LBJ Chevrolet of Nashville
Pridgen Motor Company
Mayflower Seafood Restaurant
Dental Care Center
ServPro of Rocky Mount
Carolina Dental Management
Faith Auto Body
Watson Eye Associates
Gold Buying Station
Providence Bank
Down Range Shooting
L&L Food Stores of Rocky Mount
Bobby Murray Toyota
Mario's Pizza

WPWZ's 95.5 FM signal reaches as far as Raleigh.

Big East 3-A Conference Baseball Scoreboard - Week 1

Check here each weekend for the posting of the Big East Conference Baseball Scoreboard as Week 1 of 2012 action got underway last Tuesday.

Tuesday, Feb. 28 

J.H. Rose 14, Rocky Mount 1
C.B. Aycock 6, Wilson Hunt 5, 8 inn.
Wilson Fike 13, Franklinton 0, 5 inn.
Nash Central 14, Bunn 4

Wednesday, Feb. 29 

Wilson Beddingfield 6, Southern Nash 5

Wilson Fike 6, North Johnston 4
Southern Wayne 3, Rocky Mount 0
South Central 5, Northern Nash 3
Tarboro 4, Nash Central 3

Friday, March 2 

Wilson Hunt 12, Tarboro 2

Wilson Fike 13, SW Edgecombe 1, 6 inn.
Durham Riverside 15, Rocky Mount 1
Northern Nash 7, Bunn 6
Roanoke Rapids 12, Southern Nash 2

BIG EAST 3-A BASEBALL STANDINGS

School Conf.    Overall Wilson Fike  0-0 3-0 Nash Central  0-0 1-1 Northern Nash  0-0 1-1 Wilson Hunt  0-0 1-1 Southern Nash  0-0 0-2 Rocky Mount  0-0 0-3

Hilliard named MVP at East Regionals

Rocky Mount senior Terrill Hilliard scored 25 points in leading the Gryphons to the second NCHSAA 3-A state championship game in three seasons as Rocky Mount beat Triton 82-67 Saturday at Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville in the East Regional finals.

He was rewarded for his regional play with being named as the MVP of the Regional Tournament. He scored 13 points in the Gryphons' semifinal win over West Craven Wednesday.

He was joined on the All-Regional team by teammates Lavon Brutus and Dante Battle

In the 3-A girls East Regional finals that preceeded the RMHS boys' contest, Rocky Mount fell 54-50 to Burlington Williams. Rocky Mount senior Tia Hudgins and junior J'Kyra Brown were selected to the All-Tournament team.

NCHSAA East Regional 3-A All-Tournament Team

BOYS 

Aaron Tate, West Craven

Irving Aughburns, Westover

Lavon Brutus, Rocky Mount

Kendrick Harris, Triton

Dante Battle, Rocky Mount

Most Outstanding Player - Terrill Hilliard, Rocky Mount

NCHSAA East Regional 3-A All-Tournament Team

GIRLS

Jamie Cherry, West Craven

Catherine Romaine, Chapel Hill

J'Kyra Brown, Rocky Mount
Tia Hudgins, Rocky Mount

Carlyle Jones, Burlington Williams

Most Outstanding Player - Dasea Scott, Burlington Williams

Brown becomes team's second 1,000-point scorer

Rocky Mount junior J'Kyra Brown

Rocky Mount's J'Kyra Brown knows when her team needs her to score.



The 5-foot-8 junior, who has helped RMHS compile a 48-6 record over the last two seasons, can drive to the basket or bury the 3-pointer. And she's not a bad free throw shooter, either. 

The East Carolina-bound recruit has done so much of all three the last two seasons that she has now scored over 1,000 career points.

Her next to last basket in Monday's NCHSAA 3-A first-round playoff game against Wilson Hunt got her to the mark. She scored once more to end the game with 1,002 points for her career.



And think how many she would have if she hadn't sat out her freshman season with a knee injury.

She joins Tashawn Mabry, Phil Ford and the late Kim Taylor as the only Rocky Mount varsity players to score 1,000 points in their first two seasons of action.

Also, the 2011-12 varsity girls team is the first squad since the 1977-78 vasity boys (Buck Williams/Jeff Battle) to feature two 1,000-point scorers. She has now joined senior Tia Hudgins in the club. 

ROCKY MOUNT'S GIRLS BASKETBALL 1,000-POINT CLUB

Kim Taylor (1981-83)............................1,600 - played at N.C. State (deceased, 1984)
Danielle Powell (1989-1992) ...............1,472 - played at James Madison
Dyonna Battle (2006-09)......................1,290 - playing at Queens Univ.
Tia Hudgins (2008-present)..............1,236 - not committed
Latoya Armstrong (1999-03)............... 1,127 - played at Campbell/Winston-Salem State
J'Kyra Brown (2010-present)...........1,002 - verbally committed to East Carolina

NCHSAA basketball state playoff schedule for Twin Counties - Rd. 1 results

Eight teams from Nash and Edgecombe Counties participated in the 2012 NCHSAA basketball state playoffs beginning Monday. Here are their first-round results from sectional play.

BOYS

3-A

Rocky Mount 90, Eastern Wayne 68

Nash Central 72, Havelock 45

Southern Nash 57, Southern Wayne 51

1-A

Rocky Mount Prep 90, Union 41

 

GIRLS

  

3-A 

Rocky Mount 68, Wilson Hunt 43

Northern Nash 58, Havelock 51

Nash Central 56, Hertford County 55

 1-A

Riverside-Martin 69, North Edgecombe 35 

Wednesday's Playoff Schedule (Rd. 2, Sectionals)

BOYS

3-A

Nash Central (15-7) @ Rocky Mount  (22-3), 7:30 p.m.

Southern Nash (12-12) @ Hertford County (20-3), 7 p.m.

GIRLS

3-A

South Central @ Rocky Mount (23-2), 6 p.m.

Northern Nash @ C.B. Aycock, 7 p.m.

Nash Central @ Cleveland, 7 p.m.

RMHS alum Moss expected to start for UNC this weekend

Benton Moss

Benton Moss was an impact player for Rocky Mount's baseball team as a freshman. It looks like he will start his college career the same way.

Moss, a 2011 Gryphon graduate and a Morehead-Cain scholar, is expected to be Saturday's starter in Game 3 of North Carolina's season-opening series with Xavier in Chapel Hill.

That game was originally scheduled for Sunday, but with heavy rain expected in the Triangle all day Sunday, Games 1 and 2 are being played as a doubleheader Friday and Game 3 is being played Saturday. 

2012 Big East Conference Basketball Tournament Final Results

@ Northern Nash HS, Rocky Mount

MONDAY: Boys' quarterfinals, No. 3 Southern Nash 70, No. 6 Northern Nash 48; No. 4 Wilson Hunt 55, No. 5 Wilson Fike 42

TUESDAY: Girls’ quarterfinals, No. 6 Wilson Fike 43, No. 3 Wilson Hunt 38; No. 4 Nash Central 51, No. 5 Southern Nash 48

WEDNESDAY: Boys’ semifinals, No. 1 Rocky Mount 77, No. 4 Wilson Hunt, 69; No. 3 Southern Nash 60, #2 Nash Central 55, OT.

THURSDAY: Girls’ semifinals, No. 1 Rocky Mount 52, No. 4 Nash Central 41; No. 2 Northern Nash 48, No. 6 Wilson Fike 35.

FRIDAY:  

Girls championship - Rocky Mount 59, Northern Nash 55, OT
Boys championship - Rocky Mount 76, Southern Nash 61

New sports show to debut on WHIG-TV 17 Sunday evening

Wes Bradshaw

Edward Greene

With the cancellation of the Strechlon Sports Show on WHIG-TV 17 comes the start of a brand new area sports show on the station - the All N.E.W. (Nash-Edgecombe-Wilson) Sports Show.

This new show will debut Sunday at 8 p.m. on WHIG-TV on Channel 17 on Suddenlink Cable in Nash and Edgecombe Counties and on Channel 414 on Greenlight Cable in Wilson County.

Area sports personalities Wes Bradshaw and Edward Greene will co-host the live hour-long show.

And they have a pretty well-known person as their first guest - Tarboro senior Todd Gurley, who recently garnered national attention with his announcement that he will be playing college football at Georgia.

Back in December, Gurley helped the Vikings claim their third straight NCHSAA 2-A state title. Gurley played on two of those championship teams.

Not only will Gurley be in the studio live, but the show will roll some of the announcement footage from Gurley's press conference held in Tarboro's gym last month.

It should prove to be a great opening episode to the show.

"What we aim to do is to continue to bring local sports to the community," said Bradshaw, who has been involved with covering local sports for the last decade. "We want to bring a current, fresh look to the area and do more live broadcasts. We will continue to go out and film sporting events with more emphasis on our expanded coverage area.

"We look forward to covering local athletes in the Nash, Edgecombe and Wilson Counties. Our local sports conferences dominate those areas and those are the faces people want to see."

Another local personality, Tony Doughtie, will also be contributing to the show.

The show can be seen online as well at whigtv.com and comments, questions and suggestions can be emailed to: AllNEWSportsShow@gmail.com.  You can also follow the show on Twitter at: @AllNEWSportShow.

Big East Conference Basketball Scoreboard - Feb. 11

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10

  

BOYS 

Rocky Mount 77, Northern Nash 54

Southern Nash 48, Nash Central 46

Wilson Fike 51, Wilson Hunt 49

GIRLS 

Rocky Mount 50, Northern Nash 43

Nash Central 51, Southern Nash 39

Wilson Hunt 54, Wilson Fike 49

FRIDAY'S TOP SCORERS 

J'Kyra Brown, Rocky Mount - 24 pts.

Lavon Brutus, Rocky Mount - 24 pts.

Ni'ya Styles, Nash Central - 21 pts.

Lorenzo Wilkins, Northern Nash - 18 pts.

Parker Lamm, Wilson Hunt - 16 pts.

Khadijah Manning, Southern Nash - 15 pts.

Jameka Ruffin, Wilson Fike - 15 pts.

Sam Ellis, Wilson Fike - 14 pts.

Quanisha Brown, Wilson Hunt - 14 pts.

Sam Ellis, Wilson Fike - 14 pts.

Nathaniel Pittman, Nash Central - 14 pts.

Josh King, Wilson Fike - 13 pts.

Jalen Hendricks, Nash Central - 12 pts.

STANDINGS

BOYS

School Conf.    Overall Rocky Mount  10-0 19-3 Nash Central  7-3 14-6 Southern Nash  5-5 7-11 Wilson Hunt  4-6 11-12 Wilson Fike  4-6 5-15 Northern Nash  0-10 1-19

GIRLS

School Conf.   Overall Rocky Mount 10-0 20-2 Northern Nash 8-2 18-2 Wilson Hunt 4-6 12-11 Nash Central 4-6 12-8 Wilson Fike 2-8 7-13 Southern Nash 2-8 3-15

NEXT WEEK'S SCHEDULE

BIG EAST BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT @ Northern Nash HS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13 

BOYS

#5 Wilson Fike vs. #4 Wilson Hunt, 6 p.m.

#6 Northern Nash vs. # 3 Southern Nash, 7:30 p.m.

Gryphon News and Notes

Rocky Mount senor Tia Hudgins goes for career-point No. 1,200 Friday night in the showdown for the Big East Conference's No. 1 seed at Northern Nash.

After a 10-point night against Southern Nash, she needs six more to reach 1,200.

She has passed Latoya Armstrong and is No. 4 on the school's girls basketball scoring list.

Next on her move up the scoring ladder is No. 3 Dyonna Battle at 1,290 points.

Twins get off to good starts on diamond

Twins Thomas and Matthew Berry, who have played baseball together all their lives, are now playing apart at the college level - both at the Div. II level.

Thomas has a starting spot at Lander University (Greenwood, S. C,), while sibbling Matthew got a starting nob at Barton College as it opened its season last weekend.

Thomas batted in the No. 2 hole for the Bearcats who won their series with two wins over Newberry in their Lander's brand new stadium.

Matthew ended up notching Barton’s first three-hit game of the season. In his first career start, Berry rapped three hits in four trips. His collegiate debut actually came in Friday’s second game, but he did not have an official at-bat. 

Gryphons tossed from NCHSAA dual team playoffs

Rocky Mount's wrestling team has woeful time in its first-round matchup with Western Harnett in the NCHSAA dual team wrestling playoffs. It was played at Western and the Gryphons dropped the meeting by a 48-15 score.

They concluded their fine season with a 32-9 record.

Northern Nash, the Big East's No. 2 seed, also saw its season end with a 40-27 loss to Hillsborough Orange.

Last regular seasons game at gym

For those who were at Rocky Mount's gym last Tuesday night, they were witnessing some history. The contests with Southern Nash were the last regular season games ever played in the 59-year-old venue.

While sitting there watching games, I couldn't help but recall the two seasons when basketball was even played there.

During the 1967-68 season, a pipe under the floor burst. The end result had the floor warping. The then-Blackbirds ended up playing their season at N.C. Wesleyan's Everett Gymnasium.

You younger folk might remember the last time the Gryphons had to leave their home floor.

It was during the 1999-2000 season. Lingering water brought on by the rains of Hurricane Floyd warped the floor once again. 

The Gryphons were forced to play the whole season at Northern Nash's gym. 

Sounds great, doesn't it?