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The Road to Winston-Salem goes Smith Golden Eagles Gold
“The Game of the Week, The Game of the Month, and The Game of the Year” all rolled into one…
“The Road to Winston-Salem turns Smith Golden Eagles Gold”
Ben L. Smith NCHSAA Men’s 3-A Basketball State Champions
Final Score:Smith 64, Southern Durham 62 OVERTIME
Smith(29-3)/Southern Durham(30-3)
Any way you slice it, this was “The Game of the Year”, for the Smith Golden Eagles…They are the NCHSAA Men’s 3-A State Champions…Plenty of Drama tonight at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where Ben L. Smith toppled The Southern School of Energy and Sustainability/Southern Durham Spartans…
We are hooked on this BIG Smith win, and we are Listening Back now on GreensboroSports Radio….You can Listen Back too, and many times as you like, the game is running back now, at GreensboroSports Radio…After a good game, they always say, “Let’s Run This One Back”…And we are it this outstanding game is playing back now, on GreensboroSports Radio…
The Road to Winston-Salem goes Smith Golden Eagles Gold
We have the Exclusive Pregame Interviews with former Smith boys basketball coach Reggie Peace, who took a Smith team to the State Title Game in 1995, Coach Hank Bullard with us, and he took a Smith girls team to the State Title Game in 1984, and we talk to Smith 2025 State Champion Coach Derrick Partee…Excellent pregame show, and the credit goes to those coaches, they do shine…
Bryant Roche from the News and Record joins us on the PostGame Show and he had some great inside game info, and he gave us the word up, on the Ben L. Smith Golden Eagles…Great Job by all those guests….
Then we have the game action, with Southern Durham leading 30-23, up by 7 points at halftime…Southern Durham was up 35-34 after three quarters…The game ended up tied at 49-49 at the End of Regulation, and then Smith wins it in Overtime, 64-62…
(Something that makes this game even more interesting is the fact that Smith trailed Southern Durham, 20-10 at the end of the First Quarter.)
The Game’s Outstanding Player was Smith’s Jyi Dawkins…Kenny Miller Jr. was named the game’s West MVP…From Southern Durham it was AJ Moorman as the East MVP….
The Road to Winston-Salem goes Smith Golden Eagles Gold….
Gavin Palmore with two late Free Throws to boost Smith to the victory, while Jyi Dawkins also added two key free throws down the stretch and Dawkins and Palmore were clutch at the FT Line…Palmore also caught a baseball pass and pounded down a huge two…
Smith Scoring:Jyi Dawkins with 29 big points to lead the way for Smith…Kenny Miller Jr. with 13 for Smith…Then you had 6 points each for Tayshawn Mann and Gavin Palmore…Kadyn Turner-Scott with 5 points, Ty’sere Payne had 4, and Micah Cowan was there for 3…
Southern Durham Scoring:Senior Jackson Keith with 23 points, the Freshman AJ Moorman with 23 points, Zaquan Bowling 8 points, Jakari Glaspie 7 points, Kejon Hughes 1 point….
The Road to Winston-Salem goes Smith Golden Eagles Gold
Scores from the other Friday Games:
Boys 1-A State Championship Game:Corvian Community 58, Southern Wake Academy 55…Overtime
Girls 1-A State Championship Game:Cherokee 84, East Bladen 48…Cherokee only led by two points at Halftime…
Girls 3-A State Championship Game:Western Alamance 76, Stuart Cramer 58
Boys 3-A State Championship Game:Smith 64, Southern Durham 62…Overtime
The Road to Winston-Salem goes Smith Golden Eagles Gold
2025 Smith Golden Eagles State Champions
Gavin Palmore
Micah Cowan
Kenny Miller Jr
Kendrick Johnson
Tayshawn Mann
Jyi Dawkins
Jordan Partee
Ty’sere Payne
Darius Chukwuemeka
Kady’n Turner-Scott
Jamari Shepherd
Jordan Hinson
Kenny Faison
Mohamed Ndiaye
Stephen Stockton
Tayon Lacewell
Coaching Staff
Derrick Partee…Head Coach
Clarence Waddell Jr….Assistant Coach
Brent Hinson…Assistant Coach
LaMarvis Mitchell…Assistant Coach
Bryan Wright…Assistant Coach
DeAngelo Marsh…Assistant Coach
The Road to Winston-Salem goes Smith Golden Eagles Gold
More info coming in…..Post Game Report from the NCHSAA website and Brandon Moree:
Ben L. Smith 64, Southern Durham 62 (OT) —
WINSTON-SALEM – The Ben L. Smith Golden Eagles outlasted Southern School of Energy and Sustainability in overtime on Friday night at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum to win the first NCHSAA Basketball Championship in school history.
In the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter, Smith’s Tayshawn Mann hit a driving layup to tie the score, and on the following play, Southern’s A.J. Morman Jr. to drive to the bucket at the buzzer, but his layup attempt missed, forcing the extra frame.
Smith junior Jyi Dawkins broke the ice in overtime, and Smith opened up a five-point lead. In the final minute, the Spartans whittled the lead down to just one with 12 seconds left after a Jackson Keith layup.
Dawkins was fouled and made both of his attempts, giving him 29 points in the game and setting up the decisive play. Morman’s final 3-point attempt rattled out, and the Golden Eagles iced the game at the other end at the free-throw line.
Keith made a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the game had already been decided.
Dawkins was named the Charlie Adams Most Valuable Player of the Championship. Kenny Miller Jr., who added 13 points and five rebounds, was named the West MVP.
For Southern, Morman finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals, and he was given the East MVP Award. Keith also scored 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
The NCHSAA is committed to recognizing outstanding sportsmanship in each of our State Championship events. The Association has partnered with the North Carolina Farm Bureau to award a pair of Sportsmanship Awards at each championship event, recognizing players who have demonstrated the ideals of outstanding character and sportsmanship throughout the 2024-25 season. The winners of the 3A Men’s Basketball NC Farm Bureau Sportsmanship Awards were Jakari Glaspie from Southern Durham and Tashawn Mann from Ben L. Smith.
CLICK HERE for the Smith Golden Eagles in the NCHSAA postgame press conference….Tayshawn Mann, Coach Partee, Jyi Dawkins and Kenny Miller Jr. on hand…
Southern Durham guys show up sideways first up, then Smith and Coach Partee come in second, and they are Straight Up….
The Road to Winston-Salem goes Smith Golden Eagles Gold
Thank you Andy for the coverage of the Ben L Smith basketball team. The local media has not done a good job with Eagles as they did for the 4a football Champs. Why not first ever hmm. Shots out to Greensboro sports for the recognizing the accomplishment. Well done Coach Partee and the Ben L Smith community!!
We were Blessed to be there and to be able to cover the Smith Golden Eagles in their Championship Run…Great times and Great Memories already running through my head…I was with Coach Derrick Partee and the Dudley Panthers when they won it all in Chapel Hill back in 1996 so it is quite the perspective as I look back over the years…Did Dudley-Smith games from the 90’s till now, and some kind of games over those years…
I tip my cap to Bryant Roche over at the News and Record…He should tip his cap too to his photographer Woody Marshall as they did a super great job covering Smith in this year’s Title Run….Bryant is a young writer with a great handle on how this thing works…He puts all of the players, the coaches, and the school first, and gives them their props through and through….This man is genuine and the N&R is lucky to have him out there in the field covering these games..
Sometimes I get caught up in the moment too much and need to remember where I came from, been a long and tough road, but Boy Has It Been A Good One…Greensboro Smith earned that Title, and with Coach Partee and his coaching staff they have such a Great Group of young men to be Proud Of….Proud of Greensboro Grimsley and Greensboro Smith for making the term “Title Town” stick strong for the City of Greensboro…..
Be sure to hit the link and listen back to all or parts of this game, I think you will like it, and find it good stuff….
It’s a Beautiful Thing!!!!! Making Bob McAdoo and others mighty proud.
Smith Golden Eagles State Champions
Got to believe that Mr. German, Frederick Sellars Sr., the Smith assistant principal who was formerly at Southeast Guilford HS, and I don’t know his full name, plus Roy Graham, Mr. Davis, Milton Jenkins and many others were there at the Smith Golden Eagles Championship Game in support of the Smith men’s basketball team….
Proud of them Smith Golden Eagles. Good job fellas and Enjoy the Ride.
Love that Ben L. Smith basketball team and Congratulations on a Job Well Done.
Good luck to all of you, in your future basketball endeavors.