(1) Farmville Central returns to 2A East final for sixth consecutive year with win over (4) Northwood
The Farmville Central Jaguars basketball team's yearly tradition of playing in the 2A eastern regional final will live on in 2024.
Farmville, the 2A East's No. 1 overall seed, defeated Northwood by a score of 77-70 in front of a sold out home crowd. Northwood came in as the 4-seed. Farmville Central will take on 2-seed Goldsboro in the regional final on Wednesday.
It was a matchup of two teams that played in a state championship a year ago. Farmville won the 2A state championship, while Northwood lost in the 3A state championship. Northwood dropped down to the 2A classification over the offseason as a part of the N.C. High School Athletic Association's mid-alignment changes. Northwood lost many students after the last realignment thanks to the opening of the new neighbor Seaforth High.
The game marked the final high school outing for the Chargers' 5-star UNC commit Drake Powell. The 6-foot-6 small forward, ranked as high as the No. 8 player in the entire country for the class of 2024, finished with 22 points on the night and played exceptional defense. Farmville Central coach Larry Williford said after the game that they prepared for Powell's defensive prowess but it still took some adjusting two after encountering it in game action.
Farmville junior guard MJ Williams led all scorers with 35 points on the night. Williams had 24 in the first half, thanks in large part to his six made 3-pointers.
Two threes by Williams gave Farmville an early 8-2 lead with 5:48 left in the first. Northwood coach Matt Brown called a quick timeout.
Alex Moye drew the Powell assignment and other Farmville players rotated on to Powell throughout the night. They held him to a relatively slow start throughout the first half. A charging foul on Powell that drawn by Moye early seemed to set the tone.
Down 12-4, Powell hit a three to give Northwood a a park. A couple of minutes later, Northwood took a 13-12 lead on a transition layup by sophomore Cameron Fowler. A jumper by Fowler gave Northwood a 17-14 advantage with 1:32 left
Farmville's Chris Robles hit a corner three with Powell contesting to tie the game at 17 with 28 seconds to go. It was 17-17 going into the second quarter.
Williams’ third outside make put the Jags up 25-21 with 5:55 left in the first half.
After a charge, senior Hampton Evans found Robles for another corner three. On the next defensive possession, Evans drew a charge on Powell. That was Powell’s second offensive foul.
A Williams floater off the glass put Farmville up 30-21 with 4:45 left in the second. Jake Leighton of Northwood responded with a three from the wing to stop the bleeding. Williams answered with his fourth 3-pointer with 3:50 left.
Williford called his first timeout after two made free throws by Fred Whitaker Jr. of the Chargers to make it 33-26 with 3:31 to go in the second.
A bit later, Williams hit his fifth and sixth 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to put the Jaguars up 41-30 with 1:11 left in the first half. Then, Robles hit his third 3-pointer to put Farmville up by 14. Powell responded with a successful made basket and the foul to make it an 11-point game into halftime.
In the second half, the team stayed locked in at around an 11-point game through the first three minutes of play.
Northwood got one made free throw by Leighton and then two from Powell to make it a 50-42 game with 4:13 left in the third. Evans responded with two free throws to make it 52-42 with 3:43 to play. Williford called a timeout.
With 1:52 left in the third, Powell found Leighton for a successful jumper around the foul line. That cut the Farmville lead to 52-45. After a timeout, Powell got a steal and was fouled before going up for a dunk in transition. He made both free throws to cut the lead to five points. Williams answered with a basket and the foul, but missed the free throw. Powell responded with a nice dunk in the half court game.
Northwood cut Farmville’s lead down to 54-49 going into the fourth quarter. Northwood's very solid defense held Farmville to an abnormally low 10 points in the third.
Powell opened the fourth quarter with a sweet reverse layup. Evans hit back with a corner three with 6:20 remaining in regulation to get Farmville out of its offensive slump.
On the other end, sophomore big man Chad Graves of Northwood converted on a 3-point play after a blocking foul was called on Farmville. A layup by Moye and steal and finish by Robles made it 61-54 with 5:20 to go.
Following a Northwood turnover, senior Tyler Whitehurst made a 3-pointer from the wing to make it a double-digit game again. In the midst of Farmville’s rediscovered offensive might, Northwood started speeding up and making mistakes when it had possession. Northwood called a timeout down 64-54 with 4:24 remaining.
With just over three minutes left, Powell hit a sky-high contested jumper to make it 66-60. The Chargers fouled and sent Williams to the line with 2:43 left. Williams only made one.
Powell found Fowler for a layup with just over two minutes left to make it a five-point game. After a quick Farmville miss, Northwood could not capitalize and turned it over.
The Chargers played the fouling game and sent Williams back to the line. Williams made both free throws this time to increase the lead to seven. Next, Northwood was unable to find a make and the ball was tipped out of bounds to give the Jaguars possession. Williams was sent back to the line and made one.
Powell made a layup with 25 seconds left to make it a 72-66 game. After a timeout, a 3-pointer by Northwood made it 74-69. 3 made one shot from the line.
Powell was fouled driving to the basket and made one to make it a five-point game. A little bit later, senior JD Daniels iced the game from the free throw line with 3.6 seconds left.
Northwood concluded its season with a 27-4 overall record. Powell finished his career with 1,766 career points.
