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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.

SWR basketball Nathan Ellis vs ER 013123

Prep Basketball: PAC boys’ race extends to final games

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Southwestern Randolph’s Nathan Ellis goes up for a shot as Eastern Randolph players, left to right, Timothy Brower, Nicah Taylor, Davonte Brooks and Pierce Leonard look on. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

 

ASHEBORO – The big upset from last week came with Southwestern Randolph ending the Eastern Randolph boys’ basketball team’s winning streak at 19 games.

The Cougars won 75-66 at home, so that likely will keep the suspense in the Piedmont Athletic Conference going until the final night of the regular season.

Nathan Ellis led the way with 21 points, while teammates Thomas Leal (14 points), Sean Adkins (12), Kearns Trotter (11) and Landon Williamson (10) all scored in double figures.

Second-place Southwestern Randolph remained just a half-game out of first place by topping visiting Wheatmore 54-34 as Adkins posted 16 points Friday night.

Eastern Randolph hadn’t lost since its opener Dec. 2 at Southwest Guilford.

The Wildcats got back on track by winning 89-76 at Uwharrie Charter Academy on Friday night with a boost from Davonte Brooks’ 24 points (after he had 20 in the Southwestern Randolph game). Pierce Leonard, playing against his former school, tacked on 18 points and Timothy Brower had 17 points. These outputs helped overcome 41 points from UCA’s Ashton Troutman.

Eastern Randolph could secure the outright regular-season title by beating visiting Trinity, which remains in contention, on Tuesday night and host Providence Grove on Thursday night. Southwestern Randolph’s lone game this week was set for Tuesday night at UCA, while Trinity is also home vs. Randleman on Thursday night.

** Trinity played just once last week with Dominic Payne and Dylan Hodges each scoring 23 points in a 68-51 victory at Providence Grove.

** Despite 24 points from Tyshaun Goldston, Randleman fell 64-60 at UCA. The Tigers received 22 points from Christian Long in an 82-41 pounding of visiting Providence Grove.

** In the Mid-Piedmont Conference, Asheboro moved closer to clinching a title by defeating visiting Central Davidson 50-47 and topping host North Davidson 55-48. Hakeeme Butler’s 18 points and 20 points, respectively, those games paced the Blue Comets.

Eastern Randolph’s Logan Beaver launches a shot over Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Blakeley Justus last week. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Girls’ basketball

Randleman secured the outright PAC championship by defeating host UCA 56-33 as Gracyn Hall tallied 20 points.

The Tigers then won their regular-season home finale by 63-27 against Providence Grove.

** Eastern Randolph won twice, including a 43-34 road victory against host Southwestern Randolph as Brecken Snotherly rolled up 25 points and 11 rebounds. That result avenged a loss from early January.

Next, Snotherly poured in 30 points in Eastern Randolph’s 61-34 victory against UCA. That gave the Wildcats a four-game winning streak entering this week.

Eastern Randolph clinched at least a share of second place in the PAC.

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.”