High School Basketball Finals on Championship Friday:Smith Claims Girls and Boys Mid-State 3-A Titles/NG Girls now (25-0) with Metro Title/Grimsley boys take Metro Title/Reidsville Boys(21-0)/Final RPI Rankings are in

Posted on by Andy Durham

Boys RPI Rankings are in and for the Boys CLICK HERE…Grimsley boys a 5, Smith boys a 4, and the list goes on…
Girls RPI Rankings are in with the Northern Guilford girls a 3, the Smith girls a 4, and the list goes on….CLICK HERE for the full list…

Mid-State 3-A Conference Championships at Smith High School:
Smith girls 71, Dudley 32
Smith Girls 2023 Mid-State 3-A Conference Tournament and Regular Season Champions…
Smith(22-3/Dudley(18-8)
End of First Quarter:Smith 21, Dudley 8…Halftime:Smith 42, Dudley 16…End of Third Quarter:Smith 56, Dudley 24…Final:Smith 71, Dudley 32
Smith Scoring:Shamara Rogers 25 points, Morgan Smith 12, Drayton-Gill 8, Burch 8, Davis 6, Haith 5, Maffet 5, McMillan 1
Dudley Scoring:Heaven Cooper 7 points, Kimora Haith 6, Terry 4, Pass 4, Baker 4, Carney 2, Haley Haith 2, Speight 2, Taylor 1

Explosive game on Friday night by Smith’s Shamara Rogers…She stepped into the Lady Eagles’ starting lineup, and proved she belongs, by hitting for 25 huge Smith points…Rogers had tons of two’s, a couple of three’s and some FT’s to add to her big night for the Golden Eagles…The thing about Rogers is that she gets to the basket in a hurry…You look up and she is on her way to the hole/bucket, almost in a split-second…

Rogers joined other Eagles like Morgan Smith on the All-Tournament Team, as Morgan Smith posted 12 points for Ben L. Smith High School…Smith was missing Azaria Scott, who has been out for awhile now due to injury, but the Lady Eagles are not missing a beat with Rogers out there running the guard spot, with Scott out…

Rogers might have been the hottest player on the court on Friday night, at the Bob McAdoo Gym, male or female…CJ Neely, from the Smith’s boys basketball team, would be the one to give Rogers a run for her money…CJ/Carlos Neely posted 22 points for the Smith boys, while Jamias Ferere, from Southern Guilford, led all scorers on Friday night, at the Bobby Mac, with 26 big points for the SG Storm…

A boat-load of fouls called in the Girls Mid-State 3-A Title Tilt, and that slowed down the flow of the game somewhat, but with all of those fouls on the girls, the Smith Golden Eagles were getting to the line 28 times, and the Lady Eagles were good on 22-28 of their free throw attempts/tosses…Gabby Burch and Zoe Davis led the Lady Eagles to a decisive advantage on the boards, and Dudley faced some key foul issues, as the game wore on, and Dudley had to change their guard rotation, as a result of those nagging fouls…Jewel Pass and Raelyn Baker gave Dudley a nice boost at guard, but when you are playing from being behind 30 points, it is hard to make up that kind of deficit…..

The Smith girls can, and will put the MoJo on you when it comes to their defense…Offense sells tickets, but Defense wins ballgames, and that is the sort of mantra, that Smith hangs their hats on….Domination…That is a word that Morgan Smith and Shamara Rogers were sharing with us, in the postgame interview…Domination on Defense, can make a huge difference…The difference in this game was 39 points, and the Lady Eagles from Smith, were getting it done with their Defense…

Smith boys 65, Southern Guilford 54
Smith Boys 2023 Mid-State 3-A Conference Tournament Champions and they are now calling them, “The Belt Boys”…
Smith(24-3)/SG(22-5)
End of First Quarter:Smith 12, SG 8…Halftime:Smith 29, SG 21…End of Third Quarter:Smith 45, SG 35…Smith 65, SG 54
Smith Scoring:Carlos CJ Neely 22 points, Gilbert 13, Green 10, Xavier Neely 8, Mann 5, Lattimore 4, Hughes 3
SG Scoring:Jamias Ferere 26 points, Love 14, Ross 6, Blackston 5, Dawkins 3,
**********More on the way from the Mid-State 3-A Conference Tournament**********
Not sure you would call this a breaking out party, but CJ Neely sure brought his best basketball game to the Mid-State 3-A Tournament Party, on Friday night…Neely got the start for Smith, and he made the most of his Grand Stage opportunity…Smith was missing two starters, Nick Aikens and Braylon Collins…Aikens out because of the two technical fouls he picked up in Smith’s Thursday night victory over the Dudley Panthers…Collins was absent from the lineup, due to a nagging injury….

Smith missing two its top players, two key starters, and the Smith Golden Eagles still found the will and the way to win this game, and to claim the Mid-State 3-A Conference Tournament Title…Smith was running the court, Smith was taking over and winning the boards, and Smith was making this night a Living Pain for the Southern Guilford Storm…Jamias Ferere was doing all he could to keep SG in the game, but he was forcing some of his shots, and Smith was making Southern work awfully hard to earn their baskets…

Smith had Xavier Neely, Jahlil Green, and Markquan Gilbert controlling the boards, and Smith was really shining throughout the majority of this game, on the defensive boards…Smith was able to limit the number of shots that SG was getting, and most of the time, Smith was forcing Smith to take the outside shots, and if those long three’s were not falling for SG, the Storm was going one-and-done…There was not going to be all of those second and third shots for Southern with Smith owning up, and taking possession of the lane…

The Smith lead was at 47-43 with about 3-4 minutes left to play in the game and Southern was at the free throw line, with a chance to cut the Smith lead to just two points, but SG missed not one, but both of those key free throws, and then Smith went on a 12-2 run, and it was Katy-Bar-the Door, and Smith was out in front, and the Golden Eagles were not looking back….There was no turning back, and Smith was on the way to picking up that Tournament Championship Plaque…When Smith made that big run, they did a lot that expanding the lead, with Markquan Gilbert on the bench, with four fouls…

Jahlil Green, the lean inside machine for Smith, entered the ballgame and all he did was proceed to give Smith the big boost off of the bench, as Green pumped in 10 big points for Ben L. Smith…Smith also got 5 points from Tayshawn Mann, coming in off of the bench…Mann gave Smith some much-needed quality minutes, as a key reserve for the Golden Eagles…Green with 10, Mann with 5, and Josh Hughes with 3 points, and that’s 18 points for Smith, coming in off of the pine…That’s fine from the pine, if you ask me…Smith had two very good nights of interior play from big Xavier Neely….Neely has become a true force for Smith this season…And you have to say Gage Lattimore carried Smith back on Thursday night with 18 big points, and this was nothing but a real gut-check for the Smith Golden Eagles, and they passed the test…

Minus two veteran starters, and the Ben L. Smith Golden Eagles get the “W” for Ben L., and these kids did not flinch…They came out from the very beginning of the game, and played like this game was going to be theirs, and it was…Kudo Credit to Smith head coach Derrick Partee…On less than 24 hours notice, he got his young men ready, and he had them believing that they were going to win, and that is exactly what they went out and did…To the Victor goes the Spoils, and “The Belt Boys”, from Ben L. Smith High School, spoiled the week for the other teams in the Mid-State 3-A Conference, by Taking the Title, and putting it in the trophy case, there on the Southside of Greensboro, there on South Holden Road….

Metro 4-A Conference Tournament at Grimsley High School:
Northern Guilford girls 50, Northwest Guilford 35
Northern Guilford Girls Metro 4-A Conference Tournament and Regular Season Champions…
NG(25-0)/NWG(20-7)

Grimsley boys 62, Ragsdale 47
Grimsley Boys Metro 4-A Conference Tournament and Regular Season Champions…
Grimsley(23-4/RHS(18-9)


Grimsley scorers:Jaylon Bumpass 16 pts, Nick Keith 13 pts, Zacch Wiggins 11 pts, Alex Taylor 8 pts, Nick Elliott 7 pts

Metro 4-A Girls Game to determine the #4 Seed in the Conference:
Southwest Guilford 53, Western Guilford 51
SWG(16-11)/WG(14-11)

Mid-State 2-A Conference Championship:
Reidsville 70, High Point Andrews 59
Reidsville Boys Mid-State 2-A Conference Tournament and Regular Season Champions…
Reidsville(21-0)/HP Andrews(17-9)

Northwest Piedmont 1-A Conference Championships:
Bishop McGuinness girls 62, Leadership Academy 14
Bishop McGuinness Girls Conference Tournament and Regular Season Champions…
Bishop(22-4)/LA(19-5)

Bishop McGuinness boys 73, WS Prep 58
Bishop Boys Conference Tournament and Regular Season Champions…
Bishop(21-5)/WS Prep(14-10)

Central Piedmont 4-A Conference Tournament Championship:
West Forsyth girls 32, WS Reagan 30
WF(16-11)/WSR(14-11)

East Forsyth boys 69, WS Regan 60
East Forsyth Boys are the Central Piedmont 4-A Conference Tournament Champions….
EF(20-6)/WSR(15-12)

WS Reagan Athletics
@RRHSAthletics
Tonight’s varsity men’s basketball game vs East Forsyth has been postponed to tomorrow at 10am due to a power outage at Mount Tabor. Game was tied at the half. Will give more info when available. See above score, for the Final Score between East Forsyth and Mount Tabor boys….

More scores on the way…..
Vandalia Christian School girls 51, Tabernacle Christian 38
VCS(9-11)/TAB(10-14)
Tabernacle Christian 88, Vandalia Christian 48
TAB(22-2/VCS(6-17)
Shining Light Academy boys 85, Community Baptist School 49
SLA(19-9)/CBS(13-15)

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  1. Some of the Projections for the NCHSAA Boys and Girls Basketball Tournaments…Projections coming in from HSOT.com…Official NCHSAA Seedings and Pairings are due out, later on today…We have here for you now, these are just/only the projections….

    Grimsley boys are projected at a the #4 seed in the Boys 4-A West Bracket…

    Ragsdale boys #17 boys 4-A West

    Southwest Guilford #18 boys 4-A West

    Southeast Guilford boys #21 4-A West Bracket…

    Girls 4-A West:
    Northern Guilford #3
    Northwest Guilford #15
    Western Guilford #26
    Southwest Guilford #27

    Boys 3-A West:
    Southern Guilford #8
    Smith #10
    Dudley #15

    Girls 3-A West:
    Smith #4
    Rockingham County #13
    Dudley #17
    WS Atkins #26

    Boys 2-A West:
    Reidsville #2
    High Point Andrews #13

    Girls 2-A West:
    High Point Andrews #6

    Boys 1-A West:
    Bishop McGuinness #4

    Girls 1-A West:
    Bishop McGuinness #2

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