Heavy Hitters Have HS Hardwoods Hopes Hopping

The HS hardwoods have two teams set to face each other on Saturday afternoon to determine who will qualify for the boys State 3-A title game. The Dudley Panthers have been here before, in fact seven straight years now they have made the trek to ECU to play in the Regionals. The Northeast Guilford Rams are the new kid on the block but these two teams know each other pretty darn well.

This will be the 4th meeting between these clubs and Dudley has been the victor in the 3 previous contests. Dudley won the Triad 3-A conference tournament championship game over the Rams just 2 weeks ago at Dudley and before that game it was close up at Northeast but Dudley closed strong to to take it going away. In the conference championship game NEG’S Guy Wilson did not play so maybe he can give the Rams a boost in Saturday’s title tilt.

Dudley vs. Northeast Guilford for the boys State 3-A East Regional Title in the Williams Arena at the Minges Coliseum on the Campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. That is mouthful of info and if you can’t get to the game, listen to it on AM 950, airtime 4:45pm.

The Panther’s William Graves is an old hand at these big games and Will would like to lead his team to it’s 3rd straight state championship game and leave Dudley with back-to-back state titles. Dudley defeated Hertford County 101-83 Thursday night to reach Saturday’s final. Dudley will be spearheaded by Graves, who had 27 Thursday, and by Robert Johnson who scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and by Rashawn Polk who put in 20 points. Graves, Johnson, and Polk are all seniors and they want to to get it done.

The big one -on- one matchup for Dudley vs Northeast will be Sam Grooms going up against Josh Chavis. These guards have fought tooth and nail in the previous Panther/Ram battles this season and this one should be no different.
Grooms led NEG in their win(74-58 over Rocky Mount) on Thursday night with 24 points and he had help from fellow seniors Guy Wilson 21pts., and Lamont Stokes with 16. NEG is led in scoring by their guards(three seniors) and Dudley is led by their inside men(three more seniors). NEG gets steady inside help from Mezie Uzochukwu and from William Ohuaregbe. Dudley’s guards come at you with Chavis and he gets much needed help from Travis Foster, and Jonathan Heard. We must also mention that Rashawn Polk for Dudley can play like a guard or small forward.

Dudley vs. NEG ought to be a super matchup and for the young ladies up in Winston-Salem the news wasn’t too good. Charlotte Harding ended Northwest Guilford’s season 58-48 and South Mecklenburg stopped High Point Central 63-45. The Vikings finish at 24-7 and the Black Bison close out the year at 19-11.
The Villians of Bishop McGuiness(28-0) play in the girls 1-A semis tonight at 8:30pm against Hendersonville(18-7). Don’t forget the Dudley girls play for the East 3-A Regional title Saturday (against unbeaten Wilson Beddingfied 27-0) at 3pm at the Greenville Rose HS.