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ER boys state final sad Devonte B and Will Stalker

NOT QUITE ENOUGH: Eastern Randolph boys fall in 1-A state final

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Eastern Randolph coach Johnny Thomas consoles Devonte Brooks, left, as Will Stalker looks on after the Class 1-A state final. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

RALEIGH – The greatest basketball season in the history of Eastern Randolph had a sour ending.

The Wildcats needed one more comeback and couldn’t quite generate it, falling 84-73 to Wilson Prep in the Class 1-A state championship game for boys’ basketball Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum.

“These boys have dedicated everything they possibly could to the sport of basketball the last four months,” Eastern Randolph coach Johnny Thomas said. “We have nothing to be sad over.”

But that was the mode for the Wildcats (29-3), whose knack for generating excitement the past few months lasted all the way until the final minute.

Eastern Randolph just didn’t quite have enough. Wilson Prep (27-7) won the Class 1-A title for the second time in three years.

Thomas offered perspective as his first season concluded.

“One year ago, they come out and got 8-15 for the season,” he said. “We turned it into a 29-3 season. I’m proud of them. … This moment is sad right now, but when we look back on it, it’s going to be one of the most highlighted moments of these guys’ careers.”

Devonte Brooks of Eastern Randolph soars toward the basket against Wilson Prep as part of his 34-point performance in the Class 1-A state final at Reynolds Coliseum. Eastern Randolph’s Pierce Leonard, left, looks on. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Devonte Brooks churned out 34 points – 17 in each half – and 18 rebounds in his last game for Eastern Randolph. Teammate Timothy Brower posted 20 points and eight rebounds.

Eastern Randolph rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit to surge into the lead. Wilson Prep led 37-36 at halftime.

The Tigers built a 14-point lead in the third quarter, but the Wildcats were unfazed. They had overcome a 21-point second-half hole a week earlier in the West Region final against Bishop McGuinness and nearly pulled off another improbable comeback.

Eastern Randolph was within 73-70 and later pulled within 76-73. Wilson Prep scored the game’s last eight points.

The Tigers had to dig deep to withstand the Wildcats’ late push amid a wild environment.

Eastern Randolph’s Nicah Taylor reaches for the ball in front of Wilson Prep’s Josh Hicks during Saturday’s Class 1-A state final. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

“It shows you how tough mentally they are,” Wilson Prep coach Anthony Atkinson Jr. said. “The arena was crazy. To play in the environment like that.”

Jahmar Jones scored 20 points for Wilson Prep. Teammate Davis Ellis had 14 points and 19 rebounds and was named the Most Valuable Player from Wilson Prep.

Early on, Eastern Randolph struggled. Wilson Prep went up 13-2 as the Wildcats committed six turnovers.

“I understand the nerves,” Thomas said.

ER boys coach Johnny Thomas Feb2023

Ex-Globetrotters guide Eastern Randolph, Wilson Prep to Class 1-A state final

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Coach Johnny Thomas has his Eastern Randolph team in the Class 1-A state final. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

The coaches for the two teams in the Class 1-A state championship game for boys’ basketball own a common background.

Johnny Thomas of Eastern Randolph and Anthony Atkinson Jr. of Wilson Prep both played for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Eastern Randolph is going for the school’s first state championship in basketball when it plays Wilson Prep on Saturday afternoon.

The state final is scheduled for noon at Reynolds Coliseum on the North Carolina State campus in Raleigh.

The only previous appearance in a state final for either team came in 2021. That’s when Wilson Prep won the crown.

Atkinson was the coach then as well for the Tigers (27-7). Thomas is in his first season with Eastern Randolph (29-2).

Atkinson made the winning shot in Barton College’s victory in the 2007 NCAA Division II national championship game.

ER boys West Region champions with trophy

Wildcats to play at noon Saturday in Raleigh in basketball title game

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Eastern Randolph hopes to add state-championship hardware to the West Region prize claimed Saturday. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

RAMSEUR – Eastern Randolph’s bid for its first state championship in boys’ basketball comes in the Class 1-A final at noon Saturday at Reynolds Coliseum on the North Carolina State campus in Raleigh.

The Wildcats (29-2) meet East Region champion Wilson Prep (26-7) in the title game.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association announced game times and sites for the eight championship games – four for boys and four for girls – on Sunday afternoon.

Eastern Randolph is coming off two comeback victories, winning Tuesday night at South Stokes in the regional semifinal and then Saturday afternoon’s West Region final with a 21-point second-half rally for a 62-59 decision against Bishop McGuinness at Morganton Freedom.

Wilson Prep, a 63-57 winner against Bertie in the East Region final, will meet Eastern Randolph for the first time.

Wilson Prep will be going for its second state title in three years. The Tigers won the Class 1-A championship in 2021 by defeating Lincoln Charter 65-58 in a game at Providence Grove to conclude the pandemic-altered season.

That was the only previous appearance in a state final for Wilson Prep. Anthony Atkinson Jr. remains as the team’s coach, while Johnny Thomas is in his first season with Eastern Randolph.

The Eastern Randolph/Wilson Prep matchup is the first of four games at Reynolds Coliseum, followed by the Rocky Mount/West Rowan (Class 3-A girls), Chatham Charter/Bishop McGuinness (Class 1-A girls) and Northwood/Central Cabarrus (Class 3-A boys).

At the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, the slate looks like this: Panther Creek/Lake Norman (Class 4-A girls) at noon, followed by Farmville Central/Reidsville (Class 2-A boys), Seaforth-Salisbury (Class 2-A girls) and Richmond Senior/Myers Park (Class 4-A boys).

ER boys West final on cour celebration

Huge comeback propels Eastern Randolph boys to state final

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Eastern Randolph team members and coach Johnny Thomas – with arms raised – celebrate the Class 1-A West Region title. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

MORGANTON – Eastern Randolph rallied from a 21-point halftime deficit to keep its season alive and advance to a state championship in boys’ basketball for the first time.

The Wildcats pulled out a 62-59 victory against Bishop McGuinness in the Class 1-A West Region final Saturday afternoon at Freedom High School.

“As the coach, even I’m at awe at what they just did,” first-year Eastern Randolph coach Johnny Thomas said of his players.

Eastern Randolph’s Pierce Leonard goes up for a shot in front of Jamison Graves of Bishop McGuinness. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Eastern Randolph (29-2) will face Wilson Prep (26-7), a 63-57 winner against Bertie in the East Region final, next Saturday for the state championship in either Chapel Hill or Raleigh.

Fourth-seeded Bishop McGuinness led 41-20 at halftime before the third-seeded Wildcats stormed back. Eastern Randolph scored the first 13 points of the second half and was within 49-43 going to the fourth quarter.

“We ain’t going to lose here,” senior guard Pierce Leonard said. “We’re too close to it. We traveled three hours to get up here. We weren’t trying to go home like that.”

Leonard scored 24 of his 28 points in the second half.

Eastern Randolph had never been as far as the regional semifinals until this year, but it look bleak midway through the regional final.

At halftime, Thomas had a message about trying to extend the team’s record-breaking postseason: “We’ve already made history. Now we’ve got to do it again.”

The Villains (25-6) took three potential tying shots on the last possession and missed them all. Long forgotten was their 11-0 lead to start the game.

Timothy Brower had 13 points and Nicah Taylor posted 11 points for Eastern Randolph, which won its 10th game in a row.

And it was the Wildcats’ second second-half comeback of the week after winning the regional semifinal Tuesday night at South Stokes.

“I wasn’t really feeling any pressure because we still had plenty of time when they did foul out,” Leonard said. “Our bench players just had to really step up and do their part in the game.”

Eastern Randolph’s Nicah Taylor makes a steal in front of Bishop McGuinness guard Andrew Schrage. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Three Eastern Randolph fouled out, including team scoring leader Davonte Brooks and reserve center Jani Norwood in the third quarter. Brooks had two points.

“With me in there, it would have made it a little bit easier,” Brooks said. “But my boys pulled through, came through with a ‘W’ my senior year. Now we’re going to the ‘ship.”

Brooks said the Wildcats, who were 6-for-8 on second-half 3-point attempts, remained motivated even as the challenge heightened throughout the first half.

“We just don’t want to lose,” Brooks said. “That’s what really jump-starts it.”

Leonard’s 3-pointer gave Eastern Randolph its first lead of the game at 54-51.

Thomas said without much of a basketball tradition, Eastern Randolph needed to overcome all sorts of obstacles against a Bishop McGuinness program that has played on similar stages in the past.

“They’ve been in this situation way more than we have,” he said.

Jamison Graves scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half for Bishop McGuinness, which shot 11-for-25 on free throws.

ER boys postgame video at South Stokes

Prep basketball: Eastern Randolph boys keep season going, win regional semi on road

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Coach Johnny Thomas makes a postgame video with his Eastern Randolph boys’ basketball team after winning the Class 1-A West Region semifinal at South Stokes. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

WALNUT COVE – Pierce Leonard scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and Eastern Randolph rallied past South Stokes to continue its best postseason in program history.

The Wildcats put together a strong second half to pull out the Class 1-A West Region semifinal, winning 74-71 on Tuesday night.

“I told them, ‘I am proud of you. We’ve had a long season, but this is not it,’ ” first-year Eastern Randolph coach Johnny Thomas said.

Devonte Brooks scored 15 points despite foul trouble, Timothy Brower posted 10 of his 12 points in the second half and Nicah Taylor finished with 11 points in Eastern Randolph’s first road game of the postseason.

“The whole season we have built a foundation where we can play with or without Devonte,” Thomas said.

The Wildcats made enough plays down the stretch. The Sauras missed three potential tying 3-point shots in the final 12 seconds.

Eastern Randolph’s Pierce Leonard makes a steal on Brendon Bradford of South Stokes during Tuesday night’s Class 1-A West Region semifinal. Eastern Randolph’s Timothy Brower, left, and Davonte Brooks also apply defensive pressure. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Third-seeded Eastern Randolph (28-2) meets fourth-seeded Bishop McGuinness (25-5), which eliminated top-seeded Mountain Heritage 58-54, on Saturday at a to-be-determined neutral site.

South Stokes (25-5) led 45-36 at halftime.

“It was just a simple adjustment of pride,” Thomas said.

Barry Hairston poured in 23 points for the Sauras.

Bertie (26-4) and Wilson Prep (25-7) will meet in the East Region final.

Girls’ basketball

At Randleman, top-seeded Randleman dropped a 49-42 decision to visiting East Burke in the Class 2-A West Region semifinals.

Gracyn Hall scored 12 points for Randleman (27-2), which led 24-21 at halftime before trailing 33-29 entering the fourth quarter.

With the Tigers facing a 42-40 deficit, East Burke posted the next five points.

Randleman’s Elizabeth York and Audra Petty both notched nine points.

Fifth-seeded East Burke (27-2) takes on third-seeded Salisbury (25-3) in the regional final.

ER basketball Davonte Brooks dunk v PG Feb2023

Eastern Randolph boys find way to outright PAC title

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Eastern Randolph’s Davonte Brooks ties the game with a dunk late in the third quarter at Providence Grove. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Wildcats withstand Providence Grove for rare basketball prize

CLIMAX – Eastern Randolph had to make changes to figure out how to topple Providence Grove in Thursday night’s unexpected down-to-the-end tussle in boys’ basketball.

Just mark it up as another accomplishment for this group of Wildcats.

They’re outright Piedmont Athletic Conference regular-season champions, collecting the school’s first league title of any sort in boys’ basketball in seven years and only second regular-season title in 29 years.

“We wanted to bring something back to Eastern Randolph for basketball and not just football,” senior forward Davonte Brooks said. “Now we can be a basketball and football school, not just football.”

The biggest variation of the past couple of months might come in perception considering Eastern Randolph won just eight games last season.

“It’s hard to change someone’s mindset,” first-year coach Johnny Thomas said.

And it was plenty difficult do dispatch Providence Grove, which turned in perhaps its best performance of the season on Senior Night.

Eastern Randolph clung to a one-point lead in the final minute, making three free throws in the last 12 seconds to secure an 88-84 victory against its neighboring rival.

“We got it done,” reserve Mason Briles said, calling it the wildest environment the Wildcats had competed in all season. “It feels great.”

The Wildcats (22-2, 11-1 PAC) will be the top seed and receive a quarterfinal bye in the league tournament next week before a Wednesday night semifinal at home. Eastern Randolph will be the location of the girls’ and boys’ tournament finals Feb. 17.

Brooks scored 30 points and Connor Carter had all 11 of his points in the second half, beginning with a go-ahead 3-pointer at the buzzer to close the third quarter.

“I didn’t want to lose, period,” Brooks said, “especially to PG. After we felt (how it felt) to lose the first two (defeats), we didn’t want another.”

It appeared the Patriots weren’t interested in coming up short again, either.

“All I asked them to do is fight,” Providence Grove coach Wes Luther said. “We’ve had a disappointing season, but the way we played (this game), I’ll take it.”

Sixth-place Providence Grove (7-17, 3-9), which lost by 33 points in the first meeting with Eastern Randolph, went to halftime with a 38-37 lead courtesy of Jacob Grantham’s difficult 16-foot shot at the buzzer. He kept up a personal scoring spree in the third quarter, when the Patriots went up 50-42.

Connor Carter drains a second-half 3-pointer over Providence Grove’s Joseph Coltrane. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

A Brooks dunk tied it at 60-60 shortly before Carter heated up. He was dialed in from both corners in the fourth quarter, with the Wildcats building an eight-point advantage and later his 3-pointer stretching the edge to 83-78.

Grantham’s two free throws and Zane Cheek’s breakaway layup for Providence Grove – the latter with 51 seconds left – were sandwiched around Brooks’ basket off a rebound before the Wildcats sealed it with free throws.

“It was a great game both ways,” Luther said. “We did hit more shots than we have all year. They kept trying to put us away with big shots. We just wouldn’t go away.”

Eastern Randolph’s Timothy Brower tallied 15 points, Pierce Leonard had 13 points and Nicah Taylor added 11 points.  The contributions didn’t end there.

“You’ve got Jani (Norwood) and Will Stalker and those guys in there getting big rebounds,” Thomas said.

Grantham finished with 17 points, Chase Whitaker had 14 and Sakai McKoy notched 13 points for the Patriots, who were last season’s regular-season PAC champions.

Eastern Randolph finished one game ahead of Southwestern Randolph, which snapped the Wildcats’ 19-game winning streak Jan. 31.

“We know everybody is going to come and everybody is going to fight us the best that they possibly can,” Thomas said. “Coming into halftime, my speech to my kids was, of course, very intense.”

So the Wildcats amped up their pressure defense to extend to full court.

As a result, it was a regular season full of rewards.

Eastern Randolph boys basketball photo

A new way of doing it works fast for Eastern Randolph boys’ team

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Members of the Eastern Randolph boys’ basketball team have come together for a special season.

MEBANE – No longer in a rut, the Eastern Randolph boys’ basketball program is doing it on its own terms.

That’s fast – and to the point.

“We practice fast,” senior Davonte Brooks said. “We come to the games just like practice. All fast, all fast. We all knew from the get-go what we were getting into, from Day 1.”

Turns out this means getting all sorts of victories under first-year coach Johnny Thomas.

The Wildcats are a rapid-paced, action-filled group all the way to a 16-1 record. That’s double of last season’s win total.

Prior to this week, the latest accomplishment came with a 97-77 romp past host Eastern Alamance in Friday night’s non-conference game.

Eastern Randolph has eight games of scoring more than 90 points, including four in a row. The Wildcats have eclipsed 80 points in three others.

Part of this stems from conditioning and an attitude.

“We start practice out with a 1½-mile run,” Thomas said. “With great sacrifice comes great things. We’ve understood so far what it’s going to take to get to that next level. Moving forward, we cannot be a team that just puts points on the board. We have to be a team that keeps points off the board as well.”

The scoring part, though, is probably the most noticeable. It’s certainly one of the enjoyable aspects for the Wildcats, who embrace the pace.

“I love it,” point guard Pierce Leonard said. “It gets us steals. Gets us 90 points. That’s all we go for.”

Leonard is a senior in his first season with the Wildcats after transferring from Uwharrie Charter Academy. He has fit right in with Thomas’ style.

Eastern Randolph’s Pierce Leonard drives against Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Sam Hoskins during a game earlier this month. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record).

Thomas said Leonard probably doesn’t understand the impact he has made by being able to generate a brisk pace.

“We’re not planning on slowing down for anybody,” said Thomas, a former North Carolina State player. “If you get in front of us, with all due respect, our job is to roll over you and get to that next win. All these guys, they’ve never had this sort of environment when it comes to the basketball side of things.”

Brooks is averaging 25.3 points per game, bolstered by his 43 points and 15 rebounds at Eastern Alamance.

“His ability to get the ball off the rim and just push the ball,” Thomas said of one of Brooks’ strengths. “Davonte has always had that in him, it was just giving him the opportunity and freedom to do it.”

Thomas said Brooks was an accomplished scorer last season. Now, he’s in a system that allows him to flourish even more.

The approach works for Brooks.

“I just go out there and try to add to it,” he said.

The style has been endearing for the Wildcats.

“It was different getting out there the first couple of months and first couple of weeks,” senior guard Connor Carter said. “It’s just special. (Thomas) believes in us and takes us everywhere. It’s definitely sad that I’m a senior and have to leave.”

Carter made a stirring 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer Friday night. Leonard ended up with 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Nicah Taylor posted 13 points and Jani Norwood came off the bench to grab 10 rebounds.

Eastern Randolph made it halfway through the Piedmont Athletic Conference portion of its schedule with a 6-0 mark.

The Wildcats don’t intend on slowing down.

“We play really intense,” Thomas said. “I try to tell a lot of people when we get out there, our goal is for you to stop us. We’re a very aggressive team, so time to time we get in foul trouble. That’s going to happen. … The pace is different. The expectation is different. People’s understanding about what we do is also different.”

Thomas said the Wildcats want to set the tone on all levels.

“We set our expectation,” he said. “We intend to take it. You don’t got to give it to us. We’re going to take it. There’s really nothing you can do about it. You can try. That may be a little cocky. But if you’re not cocky, you’re not confident.”