Table Rock’s Kyeon Avery (10) tries to pass the ball to a teammate as he is double-teamed during Tuesday’s home boys basketball game against Walter Johnson.
The championship games of the Foothills Athletic Conference middle school girls and boys basketball tournaments will both be intra-county affairs on Monday after four Burke County teams won semifinal contests on Thursday.
The top-seeded East Burke girls (12-1), who clinched the outright FAC regular-season title courtesy of a 33-26 road victory over East McDowell on Tuesday — Sarabeth Bradley and Taylor Parker scored 12 and nine points, respectively, in that game — knocked off the fourth-seeded Lady Trojans again on Thursday in Icard, where they won by a 42-12 final behind 14 points from Bradley, nine from Emma Price, seven from Kendall Spry, and six from Zoey Taylor. The Lady Raiders also earned a 38-23 home win over Liberty (3-9) on Monday thanks to 10 points from Bradley, eight from Price, and six each from Spry and Taylor.
The Lady Knights were led by nine points apiece from Piper Ellis and Presley McCoy in the aforementioned loss, while other girls action on Monday saw Walter Johnson fall by a 34-26 score at West McDowell and East McDowell edge Table Rock, 34-33, in Marion. Nevertheless, the Lady Yellow Jackets got 13 points from Ava Beam and 11 from Alayla Beam (no individual statistics were available from the Lady Falcons’ defeat).
Walter Johnson then traveled to Table Rock on Tuesday and finished the regular season with a 33-21 victory over the Lady Falcons (2-10). The Lady Yellow Jackets were paced by 17 points from Alayla Beam and 11 from Ava Beam, while Table Rock again didn’t report any stats.
Second-seeded Walter Johnson (11-2) was also a 45-33 winner over third-seeded West McDowell on Thursday in Morganton. Ava Beam was the Lady Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer with 25 points, with Alayla Beam tallying the remaining 20.
With their wins in Thursday’s semifinal round, East Burke and Walter Johnson advanced to this Monday’s FAC tournament title game, which will begin at 4 p.m. in Icard. The squads split their two regular-season meetings, with the home team coming out on top each time.
On the boys side, No. 1 seed Table Rock (12-1) topped fourth-seeded East McDowell by a 67-46 final on Thursday in Morganton, avenging Monday’s 60-55 road loss to the Trojans in the process. The Falcons’ top scorers on Monday were Raphael Cuthbertson and Jordan Debro with 12 points apiece, Tobey Davis with 11, and Xander Summers with 10, while Thursday’s contest saw Debro score 19 points, Summers finish with 17, Cuthbertson tally 11, and Davis score eight.
In between those contests, the Falcons secured their second straight FAC regular-season championship by beating Walter Johnson, 68-61, on Tuesday at home. Table Rock was led by 19 points from Summers, 18 from Debro, 14 from Kyeon Avery, and 13 from Cuthbertson, while the Yellow Jackets received 28 points from Jace Connelly and 27 from Kylen Caldwell.
Liberty (8-5) was victorious twice this week, nabbing a 35-20 road win over East Burke on Monday — Nate Coffey had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Knights to go with six points, four rebounds, and two steals from Brad Gadell, while no stats were available for the Raiders — before picking up another road victory on Thursday, this time by a 50-33 final at Walter Johnson. The third-seeded Knights got 14 points, five boards, and three steals from Coffey to go with 10 points and five rebounds from Abijah Rhoda and nine points, five boards, and four steals from Gadell, while Caldwell scored 20 points to lead the second-seeded Yellow Jackets (10-3).
Prior to losing back-to-back games to close the season, Walter Johnson defeated West McDowell on the road Monday, although no final score was reported. In that contest, Caldwell scored 22 points, Connelly had 18, and King Pearson finished with 17.
Also, this week, East Burke (5-7) slipped past host East McDowell by a 49-48 score on Tuesday, although no stats were available.
Table Rock defeated Liberty twice during the regular season and is set to host the Knights in this Monday’s FAC tournament championship game, which tips off at 4 p.m. The last time the Falcons hosted Liberty on Jan. 2, a last-second layup from Davis allowed Table Rock to escape with a 52-51 win.
WRESTLING
Raiders win three straight; TR beats East McDowell
East Burke (6-4) completed the regular season with its second three-match winning streak of the winter, visiting Liberty on Monday and coming away with a 78-27 victory over the Knights (4-6) before sweeping a double match against East McDowell on Tuesday in Icard, where the Raiders won by final scores of 90-9 and 89-18.
During Monday’s match, EB received wins from Landon Miller (76 pounds; pin), Parker Jenkins (83; pin), Cassius Kershner (90; pin), Landon Williams (98; pin), Noah Thomas (106; pin), Luke Duncan (113; pin), Daniel Hicks (120; pin), Zach Davis (132; pin), Klay Kircher (138; pin), Clint Sweet (157; pin), Dylan Rees (165; pin), Oran Abernathy (215; pin), and Dominic Adams (250; pin). On the other side, Liberty got pinfall victories from (no weight classes reported) Gunner King, Liam Singleton, Oliver Olson, and Mason Taylor to go with a decision from Conner Mahoney.
The next day, the Raiders were led by two wins apiece from Miller (76; technical fall, decision), Jenkins (83; two pins), Kersher (90; two forfeits), Williams (98; two pins), Thomas (106; two forfeits), Duncan (113; two pins), Garrett Stamey (126; pin, decision), Davis (132; two pins), Kircher (138; two pins), Brandon Hernandez (144; two pins), Bobby Sanchez (150; two forfeits), Sweet (157; two forfeits), Rees (165; two pins), Austin Sanderfer (175; two forfeits), and Abernathy (215; two pins). As for EB’s remaining victory, it came from Adams via pinfall at 250.
Finally, Table Rock (4-6) was a 74-22 winner over East McDowell on Monday in Morganton. The Falcons’ victorious grapplers included Grayson Yang (76; pin), Noah Yang (83; decision), Kiliko Sigman (90; forfeit), Zenen Sigmon (98; pin), Collin Pearson (106; forfeit), Ethan Yang (113; forfeit), Clayton Chapman (120; pin), Tristen Romero (132; pin), Nick Davis (150; pin), Weston Gragg (157; forfeit), Calob Benfield (175; major decision), Hayden Hopper (190; pin), and Luke Kota (215; pin).
Table Rock will host the FAC tournament today (Saturday, Feb. 1) at 10 a.m.
Josh McKinney can be reached at 828-445-8595 or josh@thepaper.media.
