Battle at the Rock: Northwestern ‘can play with anybody’; Lamelo shows; Felton drops 22
The Battle at the Rock basketball showcase is hosting games all weekend at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center. Here’s a live blog with up-to-the-minute news from the Thursday, Friday and Saturday contests.
After game against Lake Norman Christian, Northwestern believes it can ‘play with anybody’
The Northwestern basketball team hung tough with one of the better teams in the Carolinas on Saturday night, and that reaffirmed a belief senior point guard AJ Thompson has had since the season began a few weeks ago.
“I feel like we can play with anybody,” he told The Herald postgame, still a bit sweaty after scoring a team-high 16 points.
The Trojans didn’t shy away from Dorman, a program that’s won the last four 5A state titles, when they played the Cavaliers last month. Their confidence wasn’t deterred when they lost by one last week to Spartanburg — the team that has ousted them from the playoffs the last two years.
And on Saturday, playing against hoops sensation Mikey Williams in front of a large crowd — which was pulling for the Rock Hill-based team — the Trojans proved they were for real again.
Thompson was helped by a consortium of characters, and that’s how the scoring on the guard-heavy team will be all season, he said: Omari Bryson — who transferred from South Pointe last season with his brother and Trojan teammate, Jecari (who had three points) — had 11. Matthew White had nine; Antonio Willis had eight; and Jayden “Cowboy” Boyd, who had the most memorable play of the night when he dunked on a Lake Norman defender on a fast break, had five.
There was the prevailing idea, after graduating all of its starting lineup from 2019, that Northwestern would finish last in a tough region this year.
But that idea never rang true with Thompson.
“There’s no fear,” he said. “I don’t care who’s on the other side. There’s no fear at all.”
Felton, Moore prove big in Westminster Catawba win over Cannon, 70-68
Westminster Catawba Christian School built a 15-point halftime lead. And despite letting Cannon chip away at that lead throughout the second half — and despite giving talented Cannon guard Jarvis Moss an open, go-ahead 3-point attempt as the buzzer sounded — the Rock Hill school finished the job.
WCCS (2A) won, 70-68, defeating last year’s NCISAA 4A state champion in the process on Saturday.
“We do the situations in practice every day, so when they started coming back, we called a few timeouts and just went back to playing how we were playing in the first half,” MJ Collins, a junior guard on the team’s notably young team, told The Herald postgame. “You know, I’m new to the team, but I’ve been to a few of the games last year. And last year at Northside, I was in these situations. We made it to the final four and we lost. So this year, when we’re in close games, I’m trying to get my team back together so we can play like we know we can.”
Westminster Catawba built its lead by playing an aggressive, full-court press and turning turnovers into points. WCCS was without one of the guard-heavy team’s few big men (and Charleston Southern signee), AJ Hamrick, but the team’s guards filled in for him admirably: 6-4 guard Jahseem Felton, a top freshman prospect in the country, scored a team-high 22 points; Collins scored 18; and Asil Hoyle scored 15.
“In the locker room, we just said, ‘If (the run happens), just keep your head up,’ because we know we can compete with anybody in the state,” Felton said.
Many of those in the center on Saturday likely didn’t know where or what WCCS was two years ago. The small school had more winless seasons than winning seasons last decade. But in 2019, with the help of longtime AAU and school coach Ed Addie (and a few high-profile transfers), the small school became a regional power almost overnight.
And in its second year of its new era, WCCS is proving how good it is — and showing signs of how good it one day can be.
“I’ve been having a target on my back since I was 5 or 6 years old, and now I’m just used to it,” said Felton, who already has offers from Florida, Kansas, Ole Miss and Wake Forest. “And I’m not one to back down from a challenge. So if I’m a freshman, coming against a big-time senior, I’m going to go at him (even though) he’s older.”
Added Felton: “When we leave this gym, I hope Cannon knows who Jahseem Felton is, and the whole team.”
Winston Salem Christian, Covenant Day escapes with 2-point wins Saturday
Winston Salem Christian defeated Aiken, 60-58, in Saturday’s first contest in Rock Hill. Winston Salem’s Quante Berry — a 2022 guard with offers from Florida, Vanderbilt and Maryland — scored 20 and Jordan Wildy scored 16. Aiken’s ECU signee Russell Felton scored 20 and Kameron Williamson scored 19.
Covenant Day defeated United Faith, 62-60, behind 15-point performances by Aden Holloway and Jackie Brown. (Holloway has offers from Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Syracuse, among others.) Covenant Day also was led by Marcus Brown, who scored 14. United Faith was led by Xavier McKelvy with 25 and Charlie Hester with 10.
Lamelo Ball sneaks in back door to see Mikey Williams, final Friday game
A man who recently gained some high-profile employment in Charlotte visited Rock Hill on Friday night.
Right before halftime of the nightcap between Sunrise Christian and Lake Norman Christian, Charlotte Hornets first-round draft pick Lamelo Ball snuck in the back door of the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center and took a cushioned, courtside seat. He wore a bulky gold chain and red shoes and held a basketball he brought with him.
Ball was presumably there to see basketball star and social-media-sensation Mikey Williams, the California native who moved to the Carolinas this year and took his 2 million-plus Instagram following and friendship with hip hop icon Drake with him.
Putting into words the intangible but very real hype that builds in a gym shared by these two — two under-20-year-olds who’ve had so much of their lives caught on camera that they’ve already earned the social status of being almost-exclusively referred to by their first names — makes a millennial feel old: Camerapeople, all wanting a piece of the hype to deliver to their own digital audiences, spilled onto the court at halftime to get a glimpse of Ball scrolling through his smart phone and drinking water and dribbling his basketball. Similarly, camerapeople (many more than in any other contest in the showcase thus far) focused on Williams in layup lines and whenever he was in sight, ball in his hands or not.
The two never got the chance to say “hello” in person, at least not in a camera’s or a reporter’s view. Ball and his accompanying guests left out the back door with about a minute remaining in the game.
Williams finishes with 10, Trey Green with 28 in Lake Norman’s loss to Sunrise Christian
Trey Green finished a few and-ones that brought those in the gym to their feet — and hit a few off-balance threes that brought the game’s margin to 14 at one point in the second half — but it wasn’t enough.
Sunrise Christian, which defeated Lake Norman Christian by 22 points, was too much. The Buffaloes from Kansas were led by Baylor commit Kendall Brown, who scored 28 points and had nearly a half-dozen dunks; Kennedy Chandler, who scored 21; Gradey Dick, who scored 14; and Zachary Clemence, who scored seven.
Williams scored 10 points and was held to no field goals in the first half.
Jacobi Wright, Fort Mill native and USC commit, drops a smooth 28
About 20 minutes after he stepped off the court, Legacy Early College’s Jacobi Wright was posing for selfies in front of a Battle at the Rock backdrop in a hallway in the indoor sports center.
“Can I take a picture with you?” a woman asked Wright through a facemask. “I’m a huge Gamecock fan.”
Wright, a Fort Mill native and a South Carolina Gamecock commit, dropped 28 points in the first game of the second day of the Battle at the Rock basketball showcase in Rock Hill. Everything about the 6-2, 170-pound senior point guard was smooth on Friday night — whether he was rising up for a two-handed break-away dunk; sizing a defender up for a top-of-the-key three; or breaking Byrnes’ press.
(On Saturday against Sunrise Christian, Wright scored a team-high 32 points.)
“As a point guard of my team, I try to be at my best every game,” he told The Herald after his team’s 79-66 win over Byrnes, “just because I’m a leader, and they expect me to be at my best every game and give it all I got.”
Wright transferred to Legacy Early College in Greenville, S.C., before his junior basketball season, after playing at Fort Mill High and York Prep in Rock Hill. He said he always loves playing “at home.”
“It was a sacrifice, going away from home, but at the end of the day, I feel like it’s preparing me for college,” he said. “That’s what college is, so I just came here and it gave me the opportunity to get better and be seen by college coaches in South Carolina, so at the end of the day I was thankful for the move I made.”
Wright said USC head coach Frank Martin took notice of him last school season and offered him at the beginning of last AAU season. It didn’t hurt, Wright said, that he was playing alongside Bryce McGowens — the five star recruit, No. 1 player in the state per 247sports and Nebraska signee.
“It’s amazing playing with Bryce,” Wright said of his teammate, who dropped 22 himself on Friday. “He makes it easier for me, makes my stats look better, you know. We’ve built a good relationship, and I love playing with him, and I feel like he could go really far in basketball.”
Said Wright about what he hopes to accomplish in his senior season: “I’m just working on leading, my shot off the dribble, defense and athleticism, (which are) some of the things I’m focusing on, getting my body better, more healthy, so just some things like that. And with my team, I want to win most of my games if not every game, and make it to the big thing and win a championship.”
Legacy Early College scoring: Kidd Brizek (5 points); Perry Smith Jr. (14); Kameron Little (11); Randy Caldwell (1).
Byrnes scoring: Tay Bruton (26); Nana Burris (4); Nick Thiele (15); Greyson Selepes (2); Dustin Gillu (10); Elijah Holcombe (3); Thomas Gregory (6).
Dorman falls to Combine, 69-44
Combine, coached by former Tar Heel Jeff McInnis, dunked past Dorman on Friday night. The team was led by Robert Dillingham, who scored 20 points, and AJ Smith, who scored 14.
Dorman, which has won four straight 5A state championships, graduated multiple Division I players last season. The Cavaliers were led by Jordan Surratt, who scored 16, and Davison Wright, who scored 8. Dessie Canty added 7.
York Prep begins season — and brutal season schedule — in loss Thursday
Despite his team’s 2020-21 season-opening loss to Northside Christian in the first game of the Battle at the Rock showcase, York Prep coach Larry Davis — known for his stoic demeanor on the sideline — was able to crack a brief smile.
The Patriots played hard, Davis admitted to The Herald postgame. And at times, they played quite well: They slashed a 12-point deficit to two in the last minute by virtue of an effective full-court press. They went on a 10-plus-point run in the second half after a few threes rimmed-in after so many rimmed-out in the first half.
They saw solid performances from the team’s upperclassmen, including from Kory Davis, one of Coach Davis’s twin sons on the team who finished with 22 points. And they also saw impressive debuts from the team’s new guys — guard Ladarian McCree finished with 12 points and Gavin Bouldin, although it didn’t shine through in his two-point statline, helped keep his team in the fight.
But come the end of Thursday night, Davis thought his team could’ve played better — adding that it’ll have to in order to withstand “maybe the toughest schedule in South Carolina.” This month alone, the Rock Hill public charter school will play a 2019 Upper State champion in Ridge View; Lake Norman Christian, home of hoops sensation Mikey Williams; 2A Upper State finalist Andrew Jackson; private-school powerhouse Moravian Prep; and others.
Davis, who was a Tar Heel national champion before becoming a USC great, waxed poetic about his old coach: “Dean (Smith) used to say, you need to play the best to know how good you are.”
Larry Davis on his immediate reactions to the game: “Having such a small team, we’re not as big as some of the teams that we’re going to compete against, so obviously we have to be scrappy. We have to be tough. We have to do all those little things that don’t always show up in the box score. We’re going to be get there. We’re going to be there. I mean, I like this team. They work extremely hard, are extremely coachable kids. ... I don’t want to put expectations on them now. I want them to play freely and all along, getting better and better, playing our best basketball at the end of the year.”
(Davis then used a sensible data point to substantiate the purpose behind the team’s tough early schedule: On the 2013 Lewisville High School state championship team he coached, the team lost its first six games.)
Said Kory Davis postgame: “We love to compete, and we love to play together.”
Said Bouldin: “We definitely had some highs and lows, again just working through chemistry. But everyone gets that dog mentality, that defense that we played with at the end. If we play like that all game, it’s a different outcome for sure.”
Legion loss doesn’t discourage state playoff hopes
Legion Collegiate hung tough with Moravian Prep in the first half but fell hard in the second en route to a 76-53 loss on Thursday night in the Battle at the Rock hoops showcase.
The Lancers’ bright spots were Marcus Kell (a junior with a few D1 offers, including from College of Charleston), with 21 points; Kanye Nelson, with 12; and Shane Blakeney (a junior transfer from Rock Hill High) with five.
The loss didn’t discourage Legion from the goal it’s had since the program’s inception in 2019 — a state championship.
Said head coach Otis Wilson postgame, when asked if the loss affected his state championship hopes for the season: “That was a great basketball team,” he said of Moravian Prep. “And when I say ‘team’ I mean ‘team,’ not individuals. They ran good sets, shot the ball well. You know, we just had some mental lapses in the first half that cost us to not be able to come back. But no, that was a great basketball team. The result doesn’t discourage me at all.”
Said Kell postgame: “We still got it. I still think we still can. We had a bad game tonight, but we’ll come back.”
Full schedule, results
Here’s the Battle at the Rock 2020 schedule:
Thursday, Dec. 3
6 p.m.: York Prep (Rock Hill) vs. Northside Christian Academy (NCA won, 58-56)
7:30 p.m.: Legion Collegiate Academy vs. Moravian Prep (Moravian Prep won, 76-53)
Friday, Dec. 4
5:30 p.m.: Legacy Early College vs. Byrnes (Legacy won, 79-66)
7 p.m.: Dorman vs. Combine Academy (Combine won, 69-44)
8:30 p.m.: Lake Norman Christian vs. Sunrise Christian Academy (Sunrise Christian won, 89-67)
Saturday, Dec. 5 (Session I)
12 p.m.: Aiken High School vs. Winston Salem Christian (Winston Salem Christian won, 60-58)
1:30 p.m. Charlotte Covenant Day School vs. United Faith Christian Academy (Covenant Day won, 62-60)
3 p.m.: Westminster Catawba vs Cannon School (Westminster Catawba won, 70-68)
Saturday, Dec. 5 (Session II)
5:30 p.m.: Combine Academy vs Blythewood (Combine won, 76-46)
7 p.m.: Sunrise Christian Academy vs Legacy Early College (Sunrise won, 70-66)
8:30 p.m.: Northwestern vs Lake Norman Christian (Lake Norman won, 81-62)
How can I watch?
Want tickets? Visit https://www.battleattherock.com/.
How to stream games? You can watch all the games live on SUVtv.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 10:29 PM.
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