Webb State Championship: The Daily Dispatch: March 22, 2013

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2 The Daily DispaTch State Champion J.F. Webb FriDay, March 22, 2013

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch StaffJ.F. Webb won the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A boys basketball state championship. Members of the team include (front, from left) head coach Leo Brunelli, trainer Nicole Peace, Diondre Tuck, Tyler Thomas, Mack Lyon, Devonte Williams, Tobiah Lewis, Beau Smith, Jolan Royster, Tony Bowden, director of basketball operations Cynthia Hester, (back, from left) assistant coach Everett Byrd, Gearl Majors, Bryan Smith, Dashawn Lewis, Tre Wilkerson, Isaiah Hicks, Mitron Terry, Tyrek Beverly, Stefan Cates and assistant coach Cameron Davis.

0 DIONDRE TUCK 5-foot-11 Freshman Guard

1 TYREK BEVERLY 6-foot-3 Junior Forward

3 MACK LYON 5-foot-11 Senior Guard

4 ISAIAH HICKS 6-foot-9 Senior Forward

5 MITRON TERRY 6-foot-3 Junior Guard

10 TYLER THOMAS 5-foot-7 Junior Guard

12 DEVONTE WILLIAMS 5-foot-8 Sophomore Guard

15 STEFAN CATES 6-foot-1 Junior Guard

20 DASHAWN LEWIS 6-foot-2 Freshman Forward

21 GEARL MAJORS 6-foot-3 Sophomore Forward

22 TONY BOWDEN 6-foot-1 Sophomore Forward

23 TRE WILKERSON 6-foot-4 Senior Forward

30 BEAU SMITH 6-foot-1 Junior Guard

32 JOLAN ROYSTER 5-foot-8 Freshman Guard

34 TOBIAH LEWIS 6-foot Junior Forward

45 BRYAN SMITH 6-foot-3 Senior Forward

Head coach: Leo Brunelli Assistant coaches: Everett Byrd, Cameron DavisOverall: 27-53-A Carolina Conference: 9-1 (co-champion)

Nov. 20At South Granville

Warriors.........................84South Granville...............43

Nov. 27At Oxford

South Granville ..............40Warriors.........................82

Nov. 30At Granville Central

Warriors.........................91Granville Central ............46

Dec. 4At Franklinton

Warriors.........................82Franklinton....................42

Dec. 7At Oxford

Person ...........................73Warriors.........................90

Dec. 11At Oxford

Franklinton....................59Warriors.......................114

Dec. 14At Person

Warriors.........................81Person ...........................75

Dec. 18At Oxford

Granville Central ............46Warriors ......................103

Dec. 20At Columbia, S.C.

Warriors.........................80Cardinal Newman (S.C.) ..48

Dec. 21At Columbia, S.C.

Warriors.........................54Shiloh, Ga. .....................62

Dec. 26At Raleigh

Warriors.........................88Clinton...........................67

Dec. 27At Raleigh

Warriors.........................57Raleigh Word of God.......70

Dec. 28At Raleigh

Warriors.........................52High Point Christian .......65

Jan. 11At Oxford

Cardinal Gibbons............50Warriors ........................77

STATE CHAMPIONS

Jan. 19At Oxford

Northern Vance..............40Warriors.........................91

Jan. 21At Greensboro

Warriors.........................64Mount Tabor ..................63

Jan. 22At Oxford

Chapel Hill .....................35Warriors ........................56

Jan. 28At Orange

Warriors.........................75Orange...........................53

Jan. 29At Southern Vance

Warriors.........................84Southern Vance..............52

Feb. 1At Cardinal Gibbons

Warriors.........................43Cardinal Gibbons............30

Feb. 5At Northern Vance

Warriors.........................80Northern Vance .............55

Feb. 8At Chapel Hill

Warriors.........................52Chapel Hill......................55

Feb. 12At Oxford

Orange ..........................42Warriors.........................59

Feb. 15At Oxford

Southern Vance..............49Warriors.........................73

Feb. 20At Oxford

Cardinal Gibbons............56Warriors.........................57

Feb. 22At Chapel Hill


Feb. 25At Oxford

Asheboro .......................47Warriors.........................82

Feb. 27At Oxford

Southern Wayne ............57Warriors.........................87

March 1At Chapel Hill


March 8At Fayetteville

Eastern Alamance ..........56Warriors.........................65

March 9At Fayetteville

Warriors.........................68Rocky Mount..................64

March 16At Raleigh

Statesville......................70Warriors...................(ot) 73

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch StaffCoach Leo Brunelli stands behind (from left) Isaiah Hicks, Devonte Williams, Bryan Smith, Tyrek Beverly, Stefan Cates and Mitron Terry during Webb’s postgame press conference in Raleigh last Saturday night. The Warriors won their final six games, all in the playoffs, to win the title.

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The Daily DispaTch State Champion J.F. Webb FriDay, March 22, 2013 3

BY KELLEN HOLTZMANDISPATCH STAFF

When the schedule was finalized, J.F. Webb head coach Leo Brunelli began second-guessing himself.

Had he bitten off more than the Warriors could chew?

North Carolina recruit Isaiah Hicks vaulted Webb into the national spotlight and triggered invitations to showcase games around the country.

Brunelli narrowed down the Warriors’ options, opt-ing for appearances in the elite Chick-fil-A Classic, Holiday Hoops Invitational and MLK Classic.

A home-and-home series with nearby rival Person, thought to be a contender for the 4-A title, was also on the horizon in addition to a grueling 3-A Carolina Conference schedule.

“I started looking down and saying, ‘Wow, what have I done to us?’” said Brunelli.

What Brunelli did ulti-mately made the Warriors better, preparing them for a remarkable postseason run that ended with the school’s first basketball state cham-pionship.

Brunelli said his biggest eye-opener of the season came against then-unbeaten Mount Tabor in the MLK Classic at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Webb let an 18-point halftime lead slip away and found itself in a dogfight, squeaking out a 64-63 win.

“It forced me to get better,” said Brunelli, who said he learned lessons that proved vital in regional wins over Eastern Alamance and defending state champion Rocky Mount.

Hicks put forth a legend-ary performance against Statesville in the champi-

onship, tallying 34 points and a state finals record 30 rebounds in an electric Reynolds Coliseum.

Webb fans showed up in full force, most dressed in red, serenading the Old Barn with deafening chants of “Let’s go Warriors” before the opening tip and sustaining the overwhelm-ing cheers throughout the game.

“When we needed them most, they were our pickup,” said Brunelli. “That was the difference in the game I truly believe.”

It was nothing new. War-rior fans packed Webb’s gym all season long. They even helped fill the road gyms to capacity, including at Chapel Hill, where the Warriors avenged a league

tourney final loss by elimi-nating the Tigers from the state playoffs.

“The camaraderie, the en-thusiasm that the team has brought this year has really just rallied the community,” said Calvin Timberlake, the Webb principal. “What I really enjoyed is seeing the community come together for a cause and total support and that to me was just beautiful.”

Hicks, named a McDon-ald’s All-American in Febru-ary, averaged a double-double with 22.9 points and 12.9 rebounds per game to go along with 5.6 blocks, fin-ishing the season with five triple-doubles.

But as Brunelli preached all season, the team was about more than just Hicks.

There was the junior perimeter trio of Mitron Terry, Stefan Cates and Tyrek Beverly. Diminutive, but fearless sophomore Devonte Williams led the team at point guard with senior leader Bryan Smith, the garbage man, coming off the bench as the “sixth starter.”

Then there were the role players, providing depth that proved crucial as the playoff run wore on.

“This group here, they genuinely liked each other,” said Brunelli. “There’s prob-ably a brotherhood and a love there that you’ll never take away.”

Contact the writer at [email protected].

“The camaraderie, the enthusiasm that the team has brought this year has really just rallied the community. What I really enjoyed is seeing the community come together for a cause and total support and that to me was just beautiful.”

Calvin Timberlake

J.F. Webb principal

For team, a special place

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch StaffThe J.F. Webb Warriors celebrate after knocking off Statesville 73-70 in overtime at Reynolds Coliseum Saturday night.

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PREP BASKETBALLEDUCATION

The Vance County Board of Edu-cation approved revisions to an assignment of students to schools policy during Monday night’s board meeting.

The revised policy will no longer allow out of county releases to be processed or approved by the board beginning with the 2013-2014 school year.

Exceptions will include out of county transfer requests from par-ents employed by the school system of request.

The policy continues to state that

SEE STUDENT/PAGE A16

Student transfer

policy revised

THE DISPATCH STAFF

Out of county releases will have limited approval

The Vance-Granville Communi-ty College’s Board of Trustees will hold its bimonthly meeting Monday night at 7 p.m.

During the meeting, matters per-taining to the college’s 2014-2019 strategic plan are expected to be

SEE TRUSTEES/PAGE A16

College’s trustees convene Monday

BY ALLIE RAE MAUSER

DISPATCH STAFF

Many churches have their own cemeteries, where mem-bers can be buried in ground that has special meaning for them and their families.

But for urban churches, where land is at a premium, providing a cemetery may not be feasible.

Three downtown Henderson churches have found an alterna-tive. They have columbariums, where urns holding the ashes of deceased members and their

families can be placed in indi-vidual niches.

The columbarium wall in the memorial garden of Church of the Holy Innocents was dedicat-ed on Sept. 28, 1988. Designed by church member Marsha Nelson, the columbarium fea-tures brickwork that coordi-nates with the classic architec-ture of the church.

A bronze plaque with a name and dates marks each niche containing ashes of the deceased. Each unused niche in the curved brick columbari-

um is marked by three vertical bricks, which stand in contrast to the horizontal motif through-out the wall.

Like other columbariums, this one is designed so a brick mason can remove the outer bricks in order for ashes in an urn to be placed inside before the niche is resealed.

Some people preferred to have ashes scattered through-out the garden rather than placed in an urn. Above their

SEE CHURCHES/PAGE A16

Downtown churches use cemetery alternativeBY DAVID IRVINE

DISPATCH STAFF

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch Staff

A columbarium is part of the memorial garden at The Church of the Holy Innocents Episcopal on S. Chestnut Street.


J.F. Webb students taunt Statesville’s JaQuan Warren (23) as he shoots a free throw during the 3-A state championship inal at Reynolds Coliseum.

Webb rocks ReynoldsFans of high school in Oxford make presence known at 3-A state championship

R A L E I G H

Faithful J.F. Webb fans trekked from Oxford to Raleigh Saturday evening, where they loudly screamed,

stomped and applauded the school’s boys basketball team to their first 3-A state championship.

In overtime, the Warriors prevailed

73-70, sealed by Mitron Terry’s two foul shots with 2.8 seconds left. (See more in Sports on B1).

Fans remained standing, applauding and catching their collective breath as the team was honored after the game.

Vebelous Gregory, originally from Oxford, was at the game supporting her nephew, Tre Wilkerson.

“It was a tight game tonight,”

Gregory said. “It had us on our feet the whole time.”

Gregory has attended the last few games, and made it out Saturday night despite an injured arm.

“I was nervous, but I knew they had it. I’m so proud of these guys.”

Nearly three-fourths of the seats in

SEE WEBB/PAGE A16

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Webb fans rock Reynolds ColiseumHouse that Case Built filled with red, treated to overtime thriller

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch StaffBryan Smith shoots over Statesville’s Breon Borders in the 3-A state championship final at Reynolds Coliseum.

BY ALLIE RAE MAUSERDISPATCH STAFF

RALEIGH — Faithful J.F. Webb fans trekked from Oxford to Raleigh Saturday evening, where they loudly screamed, stomped and applauded the school’s boys basketball team to their first 3-A state championship.

In overtime, the War-riors prevailed 73-70, sealed by Mitron Terry’s two foul shots with 2.8 seconds left.

Fans remained standing, applauding and catching their collective breath as the team was honored after the game.

Vebelous Gregory, originally from Oxford, was at the game supporting her nephew, Tre Wilkerson.

“It was a tight game tonight,” Gregory said. “It had us on our feet the whole time.”

Gregory has attended the last few games, and made it out Saturday night despite an injured arm.

“I was nervous, but I knew they had it. I’m so proud of these guys.”

Nearly three-fourths of the seats in Reynolds Coli-seum on the campus of N.C. State University were occu-pied by individuals sporting red to match their home team. The arena which holds 12,400 people, the former longtime home of N.C. State legends such as Everett Case and David Thompson, was heavily crowded.

Ricky Givens, athletics director at J.F. Webb said close to 1,700 presale tickets sold at the school.

Prior to the game, Marcus Hicks, of no relation to J.F. Webb’s McDonald’s All-American Isaiah Hicks, prepared to watch his alma

mater play for the first time this year.

Marcus graduated from J.F. Webb in 1999, where he played basketball, football, track and baseball. Currently he works as a speed training coach for Webb’s track team and coaches defensive backs for the football team.

“This will be my first time seeing them play, but I’ve heard so much about Isaiah Hicks, and the rest of the team,” Marcus said. “It’s really exciting for Oxford. It’s been a while since a championship team has come through.”

Marcus, who was born and raised in Oxford, now runs a gym on Main Street in the city’s downtown area, was proud to see his former high school recognized for athletics.

“It’s great to see Webb recognized for sports,” Marcus said. “I tried to do as many as I could.”

With 52 seconds left in the second quarter Webb fans erupted as the team scored four points off back-to-back full court breaks.

At the half a sea of red-shirted fans stood to applaud Webb as they trotted to the locker room with a nine-point lead.

While few may have known it, a message board on campus went up Thurs-day and saluted the state champions. The premature message was gone within hours, replaced by a refer-ence to last week’s regional title.

After Saturday’s thriller, the sign is going to get another update.

Contact the writer at amaus-

[email protected].

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP WARRIORS 73, STATESVILLE 70 (OT)

Story appeared March 17, 2013

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SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013

SECTION B UNC faces Miami in today’s ACC title game, Page B3

College hoops

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GREENSBORO — Miami spent an entire season swatting away the doubt-ers.

If it wasn’t their first 13 ACC foes, it was pundits nationwide. Particularly within the ACC footprint.

Saturday it was N.C. State’s second turn for a dose of reality. Miami’s got veterans, and Miami’s got game, includ-ing its first championship game.

The Wolfpack was pesky throughout but 32 points from Durand Scott and a commanding floor game from sopho-more Shane Larkin rolled the Hurri-canes into today’s final, 81-71.

The Wolfpack (24-10) went through its roster trying to guard Scott, never got the sustained offensive firepower necessary from senior Scott Wood and junior C.J. Leslie and eventually found the mountain of the nation’s ninth-ranked team and a third game in as many days its Greensboro Coliseum stopping point.

“I just put everything on my team-mates,” Scott said. “They are the ones that find me out there, got me open.”

Scott was 12 of 18 from the floor, including 5-of-8 from 3-point territory.

Larkin added 23 points and Julian Gamble, a sixth-year senior from

nearby Durham, added 10. Powerful Kenny Kadji added eight points and

nine rebounds.Miami (26-6), its hopes alive for a top

seed in the NCAA Tournament, was the first school other than Duke or North Carolina to star t the season 13-0 in league play since Virginia in 1981. And it was only fitting that the Hurricanes would get the chance to bookend their spectacular start by advancing to Sun-day’s final.

“How many people picked us to win this tournament? Like two, I think?” said Kenny Kadji. “We love that. We love to be the underdog. It started like that at the beginning of the season, and I hope it ends like that.”

Wood, making six of his last eight from 3-point range, managed 21 points for the Wolfpack, which hasn’t won the title since 1987. C.J. Leslie added 14 points despite missing eight shots, T.J. Warren scored 13 points before foul-ing out and Richard Howell had eight points and 11 rebounds.

In the second half, Howell had four rebounds and scored once with the out-come no longer in doubt.

Gamble said the Hurricanes recog-nized Scott was dialed in early.

“Probably after the first couple of shots,” Gamble said. “He gets that look in his eye, and you know he’s going to have a big day.”

SEE CHANCE/PAGE B2

Championship chance for powerful HurricanesBY ALAN WOOTEN

DISPATCH STAFF

Associated Press

Miami’s Julian Gamble (45) drives against North Carolina State’s C.J. Leslie (5) during the first half of Saturday’s game in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro.

RALEIGH — Isaiah Hicks had the per formance of a lifetime for J.F. Webb, but he had to watch the last 19 sec-onds of the Warriors’ 3-A state championship overtime thrill-er against Statesville from the sidelines.

Hicks played with four fouls for the final six and a half min-utes of regulation Saturday and fouled out with Webb up 71-70 before watching his Warriors (27-5) hang on for a 73-70 win to clinch the first basketball state title in Webb history.

Hicks tallied an astounding 34 points and 30 rebounds. The 30 boards set a new state finals record.

“Wow, what a way to go out, huh? Last time he wears that white uniform for J.F. Webb High School to put on a display like that,” said Webb coach Leo Brunelli. “Goodness gracious, 30 rebounds. Are you kidding me?”

The of ficial stat line listed Hicks with seven blocks, but Hicks and his coach thought he may have had his hands on a few more.

“I think it was more like a

triple-double tonight,” said Brunelli.

Statesville trailed by as many as 14 points and was down 46-35 entering the fourth quarter.

Tthe Greyhounds (25-4) charged back, bringing their blue-clad suppor ters to life inside the heavily pro-Webb Reynolds Coliseum.

Statesvil le trimmed the lead to one point in the final 20 seconds and came up with a steal, but Jaquan Warren couldn’t convert on a slash to the basket.

Webb’s Mitron Terry, who

finished with 14 points, sank two free throws to put the Warriors up 3 and Josh Gaither’s despera-tion heave didn’t draw iron.

“We pictured this. This was our goal as a basketball team this year,” said Brunelli. “There were points when it didn’t look very good. There were points tonight it didn’t look good.”

“This is what we worked for and then I go out with a cham-pionship with all my brothers,” added Hicks. “It’s great to be able to share with them.”

The 6-foot-9 Hicks domi-nated from the onset against a size-challenged Statesville

team. Hicks had 13 points and 16 rebounds by halftime.

Hicks exited only briefly after picking up his fourth foul with 7:21 to play in regulation.

“Don’t get fouled out,” said Hicks. “That was going through my mind. How can I help the team without getting fouled out? I just had to play smart. When they drive, just move back and try to block the shot or try to just move out of the way when they drive.”

Breon Borders paced the Greyhounds with 26 points.

SEE CHAMPIONS/PAGE B2

STATE CHAMPIONS

BY KELLEN HOLTZMAN

DISPATCH STAFF

Webb survives Statesville rally to claim school’s irst state title

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch Staf

J.F. Webb’s Isaiah Hicks (4) dunks over Statesville’s Josh Gaither (10) during the 3-A state championship final at Reynolds Coliseum Saturday night.

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch Staff Tyrek Beverly pulls down a rebound over Statesville’s Breon Borders in the 3-A state championship final at Reynolds Coliseum.

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP WARRIORS 73, STATESVILLE 70 (OT)


RALEIGH — Isaiah Hicks had the perfor-mance of a lifetime for J.F. Webb, but he had to watch the last 19 seconds of the Warriors’ 3-A state championship overtime thriller against Statesville from the sidelines.

Hicks played with four fouls for the final six and a half minutes of regulation and fouled out in overtime with Webb up 71-70 before watching his Warriors (27-5) hang on for a 73-70 win to clinch the first basketball state title in Webb history.

Hicks tallied an astounding 34 points and 30 rebounds. The 30 boards set a new state finals record.

“Wow, what a way to go out, huh? Last time he wears that white uniform for J.F. Webb High School to put on a display like that,” said Webb coach Leo Brunelli. “Goodness gra-cious, 30 rebounds. Are you kidding me?”

The official stat line listed Hicks with sev-en blocks, but Hicks and his coach thought he may have got his hands on a few more.

“I think it was more like a triple-double tonight,” said Brunelli.

Statesville trailed by as many as 14 points and was down 46-35 entering the fourth quarter.

The Greyhounds (25-4) charged back, bringing their blue-clad supporters to life in the heavily pro-Webb Reynolds Coliseum.

Statesville trimmed the lead to one point in the final 20 seconds and came up with a steal, but Jaquan Warren couldn’t convert on a slash to the basket.

Webb’s Mitron Terry, who finished with 14 points, sank two free throws to put the Warriors up 3 and Josh Gaither’s desperation heave didn’t draw iron.

“We pictured this. This was our goal as a basketball team this year,” said Brunelli. “There were points when it didn’t look very good. There were points tonight it didn’t look good.”

“This is what we worked for and then I go

out with a championship with all my broth-ers,” added Hicks. “It’s great to be able to share with them.”

The 6-foot-9 Hicks dominated from the onset against a size-challenged Statesville team. Hicks had 13 points and 16 rebounds by halftime.

Hicks exited only briefly after picking up his fourth foul with 7:21 to play in regulation.

“Don’t get fouled out,” said Hicks. “That was going through my mind. How can I help the team without getting fouled out? I just had to play smart. When they drive, just move back and try to block the shot or try to just move out of the way when they drive.”

Breon Borders paced the Greyhounds with 26 points.

A 3-pointer from Jaquan Warren com-pleted the Statesville comeback, giving the Greyhounds a 61-59 lead with 2:06 left.

Statesville shot 5-of-9 from outside in the second half after going just 1-of-10 in the first half.

Hicks, who shot 13-of-21 from the field and 8-of-10 at the line, swatted away a Mar-quis Willis shot in the lane in the final minute before tying the game at the free throw line with 28.9 seconds left. The North Carolina recruit snatched a Borders shot with two hands on the defensive end and converted a layup, but it didn’t beat the buzzer.

In overtime, Hicks threw down a put-back of a Devonte Williams miss with two hands to tie the game with 1:21 left. Those were

Hicks’ final two points before fouling out.That left the crew of Terry, Williams, Ste-

fan Cates, Tyrek Beverly, and Bryan Smith to prove their worth.

“Everyone thought Webb was only about Isaiah Hicks,” said Brunelli. “I think you found out tonight and the last couple of week-ends there’s a pretty good team without Isaiah Hicks. And they like each other and they care for each other. Sometimes that’s all you need to push you through in a close game.”

Webb avoided the slow starts that plagued the team in its last three state playoff wins. Hicks had some early slams to ignite the Warrior faithful and Webb led 19-15 after one quarter. Hicks dominated the opening period, tallying 11 points and six rebounds.

Neither side shot well in the second quarter as the Warriors outscored the Greyhounds 10-5 to take a 29-20 lead into the locker room.

Statesville cut Webb’s lead to two points before the Warriors ended the half on an 8-0 run that included a drive to the basket and score from reserve Tyler Thomas.

Before the game, Webb donned its cus-tomary state playoff Team Meghan purple warm-ups, honoring Oxford’s Meghan Bunn, an 11-year-old battling brain cancer. Bunn recently received what her family hopes was her last round of chemo and watched the game behind the Warriors’ bench.

“I’m so proud of our team, of our commu-nity and of Team Meghan,” said Brunelli.

Brunelli said the rowdy Webb crowd that filled “The Old Barn” up was what small communities were all about.


Performance of a lifetimeMcDonald’s

All-American registers

34 points, 30 rebounds


“Wow, what a way to go out, huh? Last time he wears that white uniform for J.F. Webb High School to put on a display like that. Goodness gracious, 30 rebounds. Are you kidding me?”

Leo Brunelli

J.F. Webb coach

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Index

Details, A3

Weather

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TODAY

SunnyHigh: 59, Low: 30

TOMORROW

Obituaries, A4

Deaths

Henderson

Mark S. Abbott, 49

Norlina

Samuel L. Hicks, 57

Oxford

Marion J. Bovà, 90

After ilibuster, Senate

conirms Brennan for CIAPage A7

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Friday, March 8, 2013

Warriors two wins away from state title gamePage B1

EDUCATION OXFORD

DISTRICT COURT

HENDERSON

In an effort to highlight the disparity between low wealth and high wealth counties, the Public School Forum recently released their 2012 School Finance Study.

Since a county’s primar y source of revenue is local proper-ty taxes, the finance study draws on real estate information to eval-uate a county’s ability to contrib-ute to its public schools.

The study found that Vance County is one of North Carolina’s 25 poorest counties ranking 15th out of 100 in wealth percentage, with one being the poorest coun-ty.

“Proper ty tax is driven by

SEE BOTTOM/PAGE A10

Vance near

bottom in study

BY ALLIE RAE MAUSER

DISPATCH STAFF

State teacher salaries rank No. 48 nationally

Edward Demario Hawkins, facing two first-degree murder charges in the shooting deaths of a man and a woman Feb. 16 at Scottish Inns motel, will wait out the weekend before appearing in Vance County District Court.

Judge Daniel Finch accept-ed an explanation by defense

SEE DELAYED/PAGE A10

Double murder case delayed

BY MARTIN FISHER

DISPATCH STAFF

The Side Street Strutters will present the group’s newest pro-duction, “Shiny Stockings,” with the help of vocalist Meloney Col-lins on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Vance-Granville Community Col-lege Civic Center in Henderson.

An energetic and diverse

SEE SERIES/PAGE A10

Series set to swing Saturday evening

BY DYLAN WILSON

DISPATCH STAFF

She wanted to be like her daddy.

Wherever her father went, she followed. The desire to emulate her dad took Meghan Bunn to local sporting events and eventually N.C. State baseball, basketball and football games.

When a Wolfpack team plays on TV, Meghan doesn’t stray far from the side of her father, Brian Bunn, a lifelong N.C. State fan. She knows the player’s names and some of their statistics.

The University of North Carolina Children’s Hospital serves as the frontline for Meghan’s battle with brain cancer, but the 11-year-old Vance

SEE RALLY/PAGE A9

BY KELLEN HOLTZMAN

DISPATCH STAFF


J.F. Webb’s Isaiah Hicks spends time with Meghan Bunn after practice Tuesday afternoon. The pair have developed a friendship after Hicks learned of Bunn’s battle with cancer.


Webb basketball players wear “Team Meghan” T-shirts before the start of their game against Chapel Hill in the third round of the 3-A state playoffs. The team has rallied around the 11-year-old in her ight with cancer.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Community, team rallies together

with 11-year-old

‘If anything we’re doing brings just one more smile to her face ...’

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She wanted to be like her daddy. Wherever her father went, she followed.

The desire to emulate her dad took Meghan Bunn to local sporting events and eventually N.C. State baseball, basketball and football games.

When a Wolfpack team plays on TV, Meghan doesn’t stray far from the side of her father, Brian Bunn, a lifelong N.C. State

fan. She knows the player’s names and some of their statistics.

The University of North Carolina Chil-dren’s Hospital serves as the frontline for Meghan’s battle with brain cancer, but the 11-year-old Vance Charter School fifth-grader wears red whenever she pays the Tar Heel doctors there a visit.

“I just like to rub it in their faces,” she said.

The N.C. State basketball team invited Meghan inside their locker room before its

annual preseason Red-White game and she watched the Duke contest on her birthday from State head coach Mark Gottfried’s suite.

She’s a big fan of Wolfpack players C.J. Leslie, Richard Howell and Rodney Purvis. And they’re big fans of her, too. They follow on her Instagram and give her shout-outs on Twitter.

Her bedroom in the Bunns’ Oxford home is a shrine to N.C. State athletics.

Well, almost. Amongst the sea of red and

white rests a Carolina basketball, placed squarely in the middle of enemy territory.

J.F. Webb star and future Tar Heel Isaiah Hicks can take credit for that. The 6-foot-9 McDonald’s All-American signed the ball and gave it to Meghan on a visit to the Bunn home that was arranged by Warrior softball standout Kali Puckett.

“He sat down, kicked his feet up, and was just talking to Meghan like they were friends

‘Don’t give up, don’t ever give up’

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch StaffMeghan Bunn (left) and her dad Brian watch as the Webb basketball team hits the floor for warm-ups before the start of the state championship at Reynolds Coliseum Saturday night.

see MEGHAN/PAGE 7


I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

Jim Valvano said it, and Meghan Bunn and her favorite Warriors are living it

A6 WEBB BB

Congratulations to our State Champs!

R. GENE EDMUNDSONATTORNEY AT LAW

EDMUNDSON & BURNETTE, L.L.P.106 Main Street

P.O. Box 428Oxford, North Carolina 27565

P: (919) 693-7087F: (919) 693-7979

It has been a pleasure working with these fi ne young men through the season


MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch StaffDrawing inspiration from each other, Isaiah Hicks and the Warriors have formed a special relationship with Meghan Bunn.

forever,” said Meghan’s mother, Christy Bunn. “Ever since then, it was like he stole her heart. So she’s been a huge fan of his.”

Meghan, diagnosed with a brain tumor last May, attends every Webb basketball game she can, sitting behind the team’s bench. Her presence is dependant on a good enough blood count following the chemo-therapy that weakens her immune system.

“It’s tough to see somebody go through that at a young age,” said Hicks. “We’re all healthy and stuff and she’s going through hard times. She’s never negative. It’s like she doesn’t even pay attention to it sometimes.”

Hicks’ future in Chapel Hill hasn’t slipped her attention. She tried to “sway his deci-sion.”

No luck. Christy, a UNC grad, didn’t fare much

better in efforts to steer Meghan clear of the Wolfpack.

“They’ve been good at supporting,” Meghan said of N.C. State. “They’ve really been good. Carolina has too, but I just really like State better.”

Of course Brian likes State better, too. Father and daughter both intend to cheer on Isaiah, but only Isaiah, next season.

“Absolutely. I hope he just brings the house down,” said Brian. “But when they play State, I hope they lose.”

“I hope he makes it and goes a long way because he showed me all I needed to see about his character,” Brian added. “Good things are going to happen to that kid.”

Meghan and her basketball buddy can at least share their disdain for the other Tobacco Road resident. Bunn would like to go watch Hicks play next season, but would rather not see Duke play anymore. She said doesn’t like the Blue Devils and their Cam-eron Crazies very much.

Webb fans have rallied around Meghan, an avid athlete herself. She made the Dixie Youth softball all-star team each season she played.

The softball league created a fundraiser with “Prayers for Meghan” T-shirts, which spawned “Team Meghan” bracelets, a hit in the Warrior basketball team’s locker room. Christy said Mitron Terry, Stefan Cates and all of the team have also been encouraging.

“And it’s not just Isaiah,” said Christy. “Mitron, Stefan, any of them. When they see her, they are like, ‘Hey, Meghan, how are you? Get well soon.’ It just brings a smile to her face. They don’t realize what they’re do-ing for her, but it’s making a huge difference in her life.”

All season, the Webb team has sported

a newer version of the T-shirts for pregame shootarounds. When they knew Meghan would be in attendance, they’d bust out the purple “Team Meghan” tops to surprise her.

The back of the softball-themed shirt, de-signed by Meghan and Christy, features the message, “Knocking cancer out of the park,” along with Meghan’s favorite bible verse: Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Meghan had her mom write the verse on her softball glove.

“So if ever she was struggling on the ball field or getting down on herself, she would stop, look at her glove, say the verse and go back pitching,” said Christy. “That verse means a lot to her.”

Meghan won’t be able to play softball this spring. The chemo has left her too weak to take the field.

But the Bunns anticipate a return next season. The cancer, the doctors say, is now clear of her brain and spine. Brian and Christy are quick to knock on wood, careful not to get ahead of themselves.

Meghan will be hospitalized next week for what the Bunns hope is her last round with chemo.

Meanwhile, Brian and Christy are expect-ing their fourth daughter Monday.

“All I want for (Meghan) and for the rest of my kids is to be healthy,” said Brian. “I want to die before they die.”

The Bunns’ neighbor and friend, Webb coach Leo Brunelli, and his Warriors are two wins away from reaching the 3-A state cham-pionship game, to be held next Saturday at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum. They take on Eastern Alamance tonight in Fayetteville at the Eastern Regional. Win, and they play Saturday night at 6.

The Warriors have donned the “Team Meghan” warm-ups in each of their three state playoff wins.

Usually the players slide the shirts off for game time, but Brunelli said his four junior varsity call-ups recently asked to keep them on.

“They want to take it off, believe me,” said Brunelli. “They want to get in the game. But they also understand it’s pretty important to be wearing that shirt. If anything we’re doing brings just one more smile to her face, then it’s all worth it.”

Brunelli said the team has dedicated its playoff run to Meghan.

And the purple shirts aren’t going any-where. They’ll be on the players’ backs in Fayetteville this weekend and quite possibly next week in Raleigh.

“All the way,” said Brunelli. “All the way to the state championship.”


• Purple “Team Meghan” T-shirts can be obtained by calling Brian Bunn at (919) 691-4574. All proceeds benefit medical expenses of Meghan Bunn.

HELP MEGHAN

MEGHAN FrOM PAGE 6

“And it’s not just Isaiah. Mitron, Stefan, any of them. When they see her, they are like, ‘Hey, Meghan, how are you? Get well soon.’ It just brings a smile to her face. They don’t realize what they’re doing for her, but it’s making a huge difference in her life.”

Christy Bunn

Meghan’s mother

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CHAPEL HILL — J.F. Webb wasn’t worried. The Warriors just needed a little wake-up call.

Webb went down 27-10 to top-seeded Chapel Hill in the second quarter of Fri-day’s third-round 3-A state playoff match before outscoring the Tigers 47-14 to fin-ish the game.

The 57-41 win advances the fourth-seeded Warriors (24-5) to the two-day 3-A Eastern Regional.

Mitron Terr y led Webb with 25 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter.

“We weren’t worried,” Terr y said of the deficit. “We just knew we had to wake up.”

Isaiah Hicks finished with 17 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks for the War-riors, who face No. 3 Eastern Alamance (25-5) Friday.

“Just keep on going,” Hicks said of the team’s mindset entering regionals. “Play hard. Just win.”

Webb led 36-34 entering the fourth quarter and outscored Chapel Hill 21-7 in the final frame.

A sizeable contingent of Warrior fans spilled onto the floor to celebrate with the team when the clock struck zeros.

“I think it was more Oxford here than Chapel Hill today,” Hicks said of the crowd.

Hicks landed a dunk to get Webb within a point to start the second half after the Warriors finished the first half on a 14-0 run.

Finishes at the rim have been tough for Hicks to come by against Chapel Hill’s stingy defense.

“He hadn’t had a dunk in our losses against Chapel Hill,” said Webb coach Leo Brunelli. “Not that it’s a stat that

matters, but I’m a hell of a lot better coach when he’s dunking.”

Hicks found another opening mid-way through the third, slamming home a Terry pass out of a sideline out-of-bounds play to ignite the Oxford faithful who helped pack a sweltering Chapel Hill gym.

“Once I did that, that’s when we went on our run,” said Hicks.

Webb avenged last week’s 47-42 loss to Chapel Hill (24-5) in the Carolina Con-ference Tournament. The Warriors also knocked the Tigers out of the second round of the state playoffs last season before falling at Fayetteville Westover in Round 3.

Webb and Chapel Hill split in eight meetings the past two seasons. The Tigers had won two straight, both at home.

“Chapel Hill is a great team,” said Brunelli. “We’re a great team. This has been four great battles.”

SEE WIN/PAGE B2

SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2013

SECTION B Luke Guthrie takes lead at Honda Classic, Page B3

Pro Golf

BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALLHIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING


Duke’s rematch with fifth-ranked Miami on Saturday was already a big game, one that was supposed to give the third-ranked Blue Devils the chance to avenge an ugly loss and close the gap in the Atlan-tic Coast Conference race.

It’s even bigger now for a team that needs to regain some swagger after a tough three-week stretch that has seen the ACC regular-season title all but slip away after Thursday’s loss at Virginia.

“There is no time to feel sorr y for ourselves,” Duke senior Mason Plumlee said after the loss. “We have to come back because we are playing Miami.”

In the past three weeks, Duke (24-4, 11-4 ACC) won by a point at struggling Boston College, had a tough home win against rival North Caro-lina and lost on the road to both Maryland and Virginia. The loss to the Cavaliers gave the Hurricanes (23-4, 14-1) a share of the regular-season title, and Miami will win it out-right as long as it doesn’t lose its last three games.

The Blue Devils are still hoping for forward Ryan Kelly to return to the lineup at some point from a foot injury that has sidelined him since Janu-ary. They’re also relying heav-ily on Seth Curry despite the senior rarely practicing due to persistent shin pain that

began in preseason, while Plumlee has str uggled in Duke’s recent losses.

Then there’s the issue of Miami’s 90-63 win against the Blue Devils in January, a stun-ningly one-sided result that made it clear the Hurricanes were ready to take a huge leap for ward under second-year coach Jim Larranaga. The last time Duke had lost a regular-season game by a bigger mar-gin was in January 1984, dur-ing Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski’s fourth season.

I t was a lso the third -worst defeat ever for a No.

1-ranked team.As if all that weren’t bad

enough, the Hurricanes irked the Blue Devils by slapping the floor on defense, an appar-ent jab at past Blue Devils who did that as a show of being ready to play defense.

Krzyzewski said his players weren’t looking ahead to that rematch when they lost to the Cavaliers, a game that marked the fourth time this year that the Blue Devils had to make their way off the court while celebrat-ing fans stormed onto it.

SEE DUKE/PAGE B2

No. 3 Duke faces tough turnaround from Virginia loss

BY AARON BEARDAP BASKETBALL WRITER With so many upsets in

college basketball, there seems to be daily highlights of fans storming the court to celebrate.

No team has separated itself from the pack and there have been 15 instances when top-five teams in the Associ-ated Press Top 25 poll lost to unranked squads on the road, according to STATS LLC.

That’s led to a lot of post-game mayhem — and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said it’s not all fun and games when it happens.

H e w o u l d k n o w. H i s third-ranked Blue Devils have lost on the road to star t cour t-storming cel-ebrations four times this year, including Thursday when his team had to battle through the surge at Virgin-ia. The coach said afterward that fans should celebrate, but the focus should be get-ting the visiting team off the court first.

“Put yourself in a position with one of our players or coaches,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m not saying anybody did this but the potential is there all the time for a fan to come up to you and say, ‘Coach, you’re a ... .” Or push you or hit you. What do you do? What if you did something? That would be the stor y, right? So we deserve that type of protection.”

There had been only seven instances in each of the past two seasons in which AP top-five teams lost to unranked teams on the road. But the past week has shown just how wild this season has been by comparison.

First No. 5 Miami — ranked No. 2 at the time — lost at Wake Forest last weekend. Then top-ranked Indiana lost at Minnesota on Tuesday. The next night, No. 4 Michigan fell to a Penn State team that was 0-14 in Big Ten play.

And in each of those cases, fans gathered around the edges of the court to count of f the final seconds before charging in to celebrate at the sound of the horn.

While BCS conferences typically leave it to host schools to manage postgame celebrations, the Southeast-ern Conference fines its mem-bers when fans storm the court. The fines range from $5,000 for the first of fense, $25,000 for the second and $50,000 for a third.

Karl Hicks, the ACC’s senior associate commission-er for men’s basketball, said his league doesn’t allow unau-thorized personnel on the court before, during or after the game as a general rule. But the ACC doesn’t have a policy in place to fine or sanc-tion a school if its fans rush the court.

SEE FAN/PAGE B2

Fan celebrations taking center court this season

BY AARON BEARDAP BASKETBALL WRITER

Associated Press

Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon (14) and head coach Mike Krzyze-wski watch as a Virginia player makes a shot off a technical foul during the second half of Thursday’s game in Charlottesville, Va.

Southern Vance’s Xavier Gregory fell short of the 195-pound 3-A state wrestling final Friday night, falling to unbeaten Kacee Hutchinson of Enka, the top-ranked wrestler in the class.

G r e g o r y fell 11-5 after defeating Rocky Mount ’s Key-aad Coley in the quarters. Greg-ory wrestled in the consolation round today.

S o u t h e r n ’ s Moses Richard-

son (126 pounds), Northern’s Travis Heath (120 pounds) and Webb’s Omari Powell were each knocked out of the conso-lation round.

Gregor y and Richardson each advanced Thursday night to the second round.

Gregory (40-2), the second-ranked 195-pounder in the state, won against Gastonia Ashbrook’s Alex Mendez by a 5-3 decision.

Richardson (31-3) eliminat-ed Jonah Swinson of Concord Robinson by a 7-4 decision and met the top-ranked wrestler at 126 pounds in the state, senior Tyler Ross (45-3) of Jackson-ville, Friday.

Heath (24-8), a senior, lost to the top-ranked wrestler at 120 pounds, junior Troy Gregor (40-2) of Hickory Ridge.

Senior Powell (25-10) was defeated by Washington junior Devon Van Cura (38-3), ranked fourth at 160 pounds.

Gregory falls

in state semiinal

FROM STAFF REPORTS


J.F. Webb’s Mitron Terry drives against Chapel Hill in the third round of the 3-A state playoffs.

‘Play hard. Just win.’


Warriors advance to regionals

with 57-41 win at Chapel Hill


J.F. Webb’s Isaiah Hicks shoots over Chapel Hill’s Ryan Hogedus and Anthony Van Hook Friday night in Chapel Hill.

Xavier Gregory

Mitron Terry drives to the basket against Chapel Hill in the third round of the 3-A state playoffs.

MARK DOLEJSDispatch Staff

SECTIONAL FINAL WARRIORS 57, CHAPEL HILL 41


CHAPEL HILL — J.F. Webb wasn’t worried. The Warriors just needed a little wake-up call.

Webb went down 27-14 to top-seeded Chapel Hill in the second quarter of Friday’s third-round 3-A state playoff match before outscoring the Tigers 43-14 to finish the game.

The 57-41 win advances the fourth-seeded Warriors (24-5) to the two-day 3-A Eastern Regional.

Mitron Terry led Webb with 25 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter.

“We weren’t worried,” Terry said of the deficit. “We just knew we had to wake up.”

Isaiah Hicks finished with 17 points, 16 re-bounds and five blocks for the Warriors, who face No. 3 Eastern Alamance (25-5) Friday in

Fayetteville.“Just keep on going,” Hicks said of the

team’s mindset entering regionals. “Play hard. Just win.”

Webb led 36-34 entering the fourth quar-ter and outscored Chapel Hill 21-7 in the final frame.

A sizeable contingent of Warrior fans spilled onto the floor to celebrate with the team when the clock struck zeros.

“I think it was more Oxford here than Chapel Hill today,” Hicks said of the crowd.

Hicks landed a dunk to get Webb within a point to start the second half after the War-riors finished the first half on a 14-0 run.

Finishes at the rim have been tough for Hicks to come by against Chapel Hill’s stingy defense.

“He hadn’t had a dunk in our losses against Chapel Hill,” said Webb coach Leo Brunelli. “Not that it’s a stat that matters,

but I’m a hell of a lot better coach when he’s dunking.”

Hicks found another opening midway through the third, slamming home a Terry pass out of a sideline out-of-bounds play to ignite the Oxford faithful who helped pack a sweltering Chapel Hill gym.

“Once I did that, that’s when we went on our run,” said Hicks.

Webb avenged last week’s 47-42 loss to Chapel Hill (24-5) in the Carolina Conference Tournament. The Warriors also knocked the Tigers out of the second round of the state playoffs last season before falling at Fayette-ville Westover in Round 3.

Webb and Chapel Hill split in eight meet-ings the past two seasons. The Tigers had won two straight, both at home.

“Chapel Hill is a great team,” said Brunelli. “We’re a great team. This has been four great battles.”

Devonte Williams had 10 points for Webb. Tyrek Beverly added a big fourth-quarter 3-pointer and Stefan Cates chipped in with two points

Terry played at an unrelenting pace for Webb, driving right at the Tiger defense. He scored 15 of his 25 at the free throw line, where the Warriors shot 22-of-28.

“He has the chance to take over anytime he wants to and go to the rim,” said Brunelli. “He’s pretty special.”

Brunelli said this is the farthest Webb has advanced since the Taron Downey era. The Warriors are two wins away from the state final.

“It means a lot,” said Terry. “Like Coach said, we’re not going to stop until we go to the state championship.”


Big rally, mighty finish

Having posted routs of Asheboro and Southern Wayne, a fourth meeting is winner take all


A8 WEBB BB

“Great Job! We are really proud of you! Congratulations!”

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SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

SECTION B Woods takes lead at Doral, Page B2

Pro golf


PREP BASKETBALL PREP ROUNDUP

RALEIGH — North Carolina State fell short of its preseason expectations to inish atop the Atlantic Coast Confer-ence standings. Still, the Wolfpack can earn the program’s best league inish in nine years.

The team that entered the year with a top-10 ranking can clinch a top-four seed and a irst-round bye at next week’s league tournament in Greensboro by win-ning at Florida State in Saturday’s regular-season inale. And while the season hasn’t lived up to preseason expectations, that

would give the Wolfpack a chance for the program’s best regular-season league in-ish since coming in second in 2004.

Coach Mark Gottfried has talked to his team recently about inishing strong to earn that bye, which would be a big help for a team with only eight scholarship players.

“I think we’ve put ourselves in position ... where now we’ve got an opportunity to potentially help ourselves,” Gottfried said Friday.

N.C. State (22-8, 11-6 ACC) caught a break when Virginia (20-10, 10-7) lost at Florida State on Thursday night consider-

ing the Cavaliers had the head-to-head tiebreaker by beating the Wolfpack in the only matchup this year. While a win against FSU would secure the bye, the Wolfpack could inish as high as the No. 3 seed if North Carolina also lost to Duke on Saturday night.

But if N.C. State stumbles and Virginia wins its finale against Maryland on Sunday, N.C. State could slide to the No. 5 seed with a first-round game on Thursday. That would mean the Wolfpack had to

win four games in four days — something never done in ACC tournament history

— for the program’s irst title since 1987.

“I think if your goal is to win the ACC tournament championship, obviously you want to play the least amount of games possible to do that,” Gottfried said. “However it plays itself out, we will be ready regardless.”

Still, N.C. State has already earned

SEE WOLFPACK/PAGE B2

Wolfpack looks to clinch ACC tourney byeBY AARON BEARD

AP BASKETBALL WRITER

CHAPEL HILL — P.J. Hair-ston didn’t blow his chance to play a bigger role for a North Carolina team desperate to change its season. Now he’s an every-game starter in a four-guard lineup that has the Tar Heels surging into their rivalry game with No. 3 Duke on Sat-urday night.

The Tar Heels are 6-1 since coach Roy Williams made Hair-ston a starter and shortened his rotation. UNC (22-8, 12-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost the first game at Duke with the new lineup on Feb. 13, but hasn’t lost since.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound sophomore is playing at the 4-spot against bigger players and leading the team in scoring since the lineup change.

“I don’t want to say I’m the reason, but I’d say I have some-thing to do with it because of the lineup change,” Hairston said. “Any person can change the face of a game. ... I’m not

the one that’s causing us to win because we’re playing as a team and we’re playing togeth-er. That’s what’s helping us win.”

Hairston is right about the team’s overall improved play, but so much of that lows from Hairston’s bigger role. His abil-ity to knock down the outside shot spreads the loor to open driving lanes for fellow sopho-more James Michael McAdoo and senior Dexter Strickland, while also giving perimeter defenders another concern other than 6-7 junior Reggie Bullock.

Quite simply, the move has changed ever ything for the Tar Heels, not to mention given UNC some optimism for what lies ahead after a bumpy irst half of the season. North Carolina has already clinched a top-four seed and a irst-round bye in next week’s ACC tourna-ment in Greensboro, and could tie the Blue Devils (26-4, 13-4) for second behind Miami.

“He should get a lot of cred-

it,” freshman point guard Mar-cus Paige said. “He’s always had the potential to be a big-time player for us and he took full advantage of his opportu-nity when coach decided to expand his role a little bit and put him in the starting lineup and try to get something going for us.

“Obviously that something got going really well with P.J., and he’s been playing like a first-team all-ACC player ever since he got put in the starting lineup.”

Duke Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski can see it, too.

“Hairston’s played great,” the coach said. “I mean, not good, he’s played great. He’s taken advantage of his matchup and that matchup hasn’t taken advantage of him because he’s a really tough kid. He’s strong. I just think he’s tough-minded. ... Really he’s been one of the best players in the conference these last few weeks.”

SEE TAR HEELS/PAGE B2

Hairston has Tar Heels rolling heading into Duke gameBY AARON BEARDAP BASKETBALL WRITER

FAYETTEVILLE — J.F. Webb overcame a slow start again Friday and moved with-in one game of the 3-A state championship with a 65-56 win over Eastern Alamance.

The fourth-seeded Warriors (25-5) face No. 1 Rocky Mount (26-2) today at 6 p.m. in the Eastern Regional inal at Fay-etteville’s Crown Coliseum for the right to move on to the title game in Raleigh.

Like last week’s third-round win at Chapel Hill, Webb bat-tled back from an early dou-ble-digit deicit. The Warriors trailed early, but seized the advantage in the third quarter, holding No. 3 Eastern Ala-mance to six points.

“We’ve weathered dif fer-ent storms,” said Webb coach Leo Brunelli. “That’s part of why we played who we played. Our conference got us ready for this. Our showcase got us ready for this.”

SEE STORM/PAGE B2

Weathering the storm

BY KELLEN HOLTZMAN

DISPATCH STAFF

The Ker r-Vance varsity lacrosse team opened the sea-son with a 15-5 loss to Forsyth Country Day Thursday night.

The Spar tans star ted the game strong, trailing only by one after the irst quarter. Luke Pegram and Hayes Griggs both scored in the first frame to keep the match close.

F o r s y t h C o u n t r y D a y opened up the lead in the sec-ond quarter as the ield condi-tions continued to worsen due to the saturated ground. Frank-lin Irvin scored for the Spar-tans in the second, but Forsyth led 8-3 at the half.

“It was a good effort for our first game,” Spar tan Coach Scott Burnette said. “We’ve been limited in practice due to the weather but really did some good things tonight.”

“Forsyth Countr y Day is a well-established program, finishing in the top eight in the state last year,” Burnette added. “Three of their gradu-ates play for UNC.”

Forsyth continued to open the lead in the second half. Sam Fuquay added a goal late in the third, and Pegram added a second goal with about 10 minutes left in the match. Both Pegram and Troy Bickel had assists during the course of the contest.

SEE SPARTAN/PAGE B2

Spartan lacrosse drops

openerDISPATCH STAFF REPORTS

“However it plays itself out, we will be ready regardless.”

— Mark Gottfried

N.C. State coach

North Carolina guard P.J. Hairston goes to the basket against Maryland guard Pe’Shon Howard during the irst half of Wednesday’s game in College Park, Md.

Associated Press

J.F. Webb’s Mitron Terry drives past Eastern Alamance’s Joey

Lanier in their Eastern Regional game Friday night in Fayetteville.


Webb advances to regional inal with 65-56 win

over Eastern Alamance

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch StaffDevonte Williams drives against Rocky Mount in the 3-A Eastern Regional semifinal.

REGIONAL SEMIFINAL WARRIORS 65, EASTERN ALAMANCE 56

Another double-digit deficit, another win; tough schedule is paying dividends when it counts


FAYETTEVILLE — J.F. Webb overcame a slow start again Friday and moved within one game of the 3-A state championship with a 65-56 win over Eastern Alamance.

The fourth-seeded Warriors (25-5) face No. 1 Rocky Mount (26-2) today in the East-ern Regional final at Fayetteville’s Crown Coliseum for the right to move on to next week’s title game in Raleigh.

Like last week’s third-round win at Chapel Hill, Webb battled back from an early dou-ble-digit deficit. The Warriors trailed early, but seized the advantage in the third quarter, holding Eastern Alamance to six points.

“We’ve weathered different storms,” said Webb coach Leo Brunelli. “That’s part of why we played who we played. Our confer-ence got us ready for this. Our showcase got us ready for this.”

Stefan Cates led Webb with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-2 from outside to go along with 13 rebounds. Isaiah Hicks was dominant in the paint, finishing with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks.

Hicks brought the red-clad Webb faithful, who made the trip south in good numbers, to life in the second quarter with a two-hand snatch of an Eagle player’s shot in transition, pinning the ball on the bottom right corner of the backboard.

“Every time I think the young man has shown me everything, he goes up there and two-hand pins one,” said Brunelli. “I haven’t seen that yet. Maybe not that high.”

Mitron Terry was also in double figures

for Webb with 15 points.Eastern Alamance star point guard

Lamont Robinson had 28 points on 11-of-33 shooting and was 1-of-9 from downtown.

Webb went down 25-14 early in the sec-ond quarter, but made up the difference with a 9-0 run before taking a 31-30 lead with 2:08 to play in the half.

A Robinson 3 with 20 seconds left gave Eastern a 34-33 halftime advantage.

The Eagles led 23-14 after the first.Webb shot 43 percent from the field on

the game to Eastern’s 29.4 percent.“That’s been our knock, we don’t guard

anyone,” said Brunelli. “I think we guarded some people tonight.”

Rocky Mount overcame a one-point halftime deficit Friday against West Craven pulling away for a 62-50 win to advance to the 3-A Eastern Regional final.

The top-seeded Gryphons led 45-39 entering the fourth quarter and withstood a late charge from the Eagles (25-5) that got the lead down to five points with about a minute to play.

Sophomore guard Broderick Caudle led Rocky Mount with 15 points on 3-for-7 shoot-ing from 3-point range. Mason Hines and Mi-chael Hines had 12 and 11 points respectively.

Rocky Mount scored 23 points off 23 turnovers from No. 3 West Craven.

The Gryphons feature three junior players 6-foot-5 or taller in Dante Battle (6-foot-5), Im-manuel King (6-foot-6) and Jaquell Bryant (6-foot-7). Battle, the Big East player of the year, was the leader of that group Friday with seven points.


Only one away from state finals Story appeared

March 9, 2013

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Defending Atlantic Coast Con-ference champion Flori-da State may not repeat next week at the ACC tournament, but the Seminoles served notice Saturday that they still intend to have some-thing to say about it.

Freshman Devon Bookert scored a career-high 18 points and Michael Snaer added 17 as Florida State fought back from an eight-point deicit in the second half to defeat North Caro-lina State 71-67 in the regular-season inale for both teams. The win — Florida State’s eighth of the conference season by five points or fewer, came less than 48 hours after Virginia fell 53-51 in Tallahassee.

“What we see is some young-

sters growing up in front of our eyes,” said Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, who has weaved a handful of freshmen

and two junior college transfers into his lineup after losing six seniors off last year’s titlists. “We are hoping that this will give us some conidence as we prepare for the ACC tour-nament.”

A pair of free throws by Booker t gave the Seminoles (17-14, 9-9) their first lead of the second half at 57-55. The 6-foot-1 freshman from Anchorage added a jumper with 2:01 left to snap a tie at 62 with 2:01 left. He added three free throws in the final 1:23 of the see-saw contest which featured nine lead

changes and nine tied scores. Bookert scored 10 points in the inal 5:09.

“He knew we needed to have

some baskets,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “He really came through.”

Snaer broke away and caught a length-of-the court pass from Okaro White for an uncontested dunk that gave Florida State a 67-63 lead with 32 seconds left after both teams suffered turn-overs in previous possessions with the lead on the line.

“As soon as I took of f, I knew the guy behind me wasn’t going to catch me,” Snaer said. “Once I saw it I knew he was going to throw it.”

Richard Howell’s three-point play with 21 seconds left got the ‘Pack to within 67-66. He scored off a missed 3 by Wood and was fouled on the put-back.

Scott Wood’s 18 points led North Carolina State, which could lose out on a irst-round bye in next week’s ACC tour-nament if Virginia defeats Maryland on Sunday. The Wolf-pack had won six of its seven previous games and hoped to

strengthen its position for an NCAA postseason bid.

North Carolina State (22-9, 11-7) led 35-34 at the half and built its advantage to eight points on three occasions in the second half — the last time at 49-41. The Wolfpack still led 59-57 with 3:51 left when Wood sank two free throws after a technical foul was whistled against Florida State’s Ian Mill-er, who had just fouled out.

Florida State was scrambling down the stretch to inish with a .500 conference mark and perhaps win an invite for a post-season NIT bid.

Freshman T.J. Warren, whose .613 ield goal percentage leads the ACC, had season-highs of 31 points and 13 rebounds to lead NC State to an 84-66 win over the Seminoles in Raleigh, N.C., on Feb. 19, but inished with just eight points Saturday.

Lorenzo Brown, who led an 11-2 run to end the first half that gave NC State a 35-34 lead,

scored 14 points and Howell in-ished with 10. C.J. Leslie, who played just 18 minutes because of foul trouble, had just five points and three rebounds.

“We hurt ourselves,” North Carolina State coach Mark Gottfried said. “Had opportuni-ties— just didn’t take advan-tage of them.”

Wood and Brown each had 12 points in the irst half while Leslie sat for 12 minutes on the bench after three early fouls — the third being assessed on a technical.

“If you get to play N.C. State without Richard (Howell) and Cal-vin (C.J. Leslie) playing that much, you’re better off,” Gottfried said.

SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2013

SECTION B Sam Hornish Jr. wins Vegas Nationwide, Page B7

NASCAR

DUKE AT UNCA story from Saturday’s

match between No. 3 Duke

and North Carolina was not

available at press time. Visit

hendersondispatch.com for a

game story.

PREP BASKETBALL

FAYETTEVILLE — Isaiah Hicks has been J.F. Webb’s Superman all season long. But he’s been sharing his cape in the Warriors’ postseason run.

Mitron Terry was the savior in the 3-A Carolina Conference tourney final at Chapel Hill and Stefan Cates led the way Friday night in the Eastern Regional semiinal win over Eastern Alamance.

Hicks took it upon himself Saturday to save the day as fourth-seeded Webb clinched the school’s irst state champi-onship appearance with a 68-64 win over defending 3-A state champ Rocky Mount.

Hicks, held without a first-half field goal, came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of Webb’s 18 points and swat-ted away a potential game-tying shot with 12.3 seconds to play.

“We didn’t work this hard just to lose at regionals,” said Hicks. “We want to go to the state championship.”

And they will. The Warriors meet Statesville Saturday at N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum. Statesville knocked

off Hunter Huss 74-71 in the Western Regional inal.

Hicks finished with 22 points on the night, adding nine rebounds and six blocks. He was 10-of-10 from the free throw line. The Warriors shot 87.5 percent as a team to top-seeded Rocky Mount’s 57.9.

Down 66-64, Rocky Mount’s Mason Hines drove toward the basket on the left baseline and had his shot denied by Hicks, who rejected it emphatically with one hand.

Webb’s Tyrek Beverly then bounced the ball off of a Rocky Mount player to give the Warriors possession with 12.3 seconds on the clock.

Stefan Cates sealed the game at the free throw line.

“Just really proud of this team and how hard they fought, how hard they never looked at the scoreboard and how well they compete,” said Webb coach Leo Brunelli. “This is a special group of young men. Just really proud.”

SEE REYNOLDS/PAGE B2

Rollin’ to Reynolds



Florida State rebounds to overcome N.C. State, 71-67BY BRENT KALLESTAD

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Devon

Bookert

Michael

Snaer

Webb ousts defending state champ Rocky Mount to reach state inal


J.F. Webb’s Stefan Cates drives to the basket against Rocky Mount’s Michael Gainey in the 3-A Eastern Regional final Saturday night.

What a difference a week makes. I went from hero to zero in less than

seven days. One week I bring in a sack

of ish at Harris Lake that was almost three times larger than my nearest competitor.

Then the next weekend I went three days straight without getting a single bite, zeroing at High

Rock Lake on Saturday in the BFL tournament after not having a single nibble while practicing Friday.

Fishing was tough on High Rock Lake as it only took one ish to make ninth place.

Almost two thirds of the boater ield zeroed including some of the top names in the sport and several noted state aces, and only 15 of the 95 co-anglers weighed a ish.

My co-angler caught a 5-11 giant on a shaky head worm in 20 feet of water. I knew the ish were there but was unable to get them to bite. Neither of us had another bite all day.

Then I zeroed again Sunday at Kerr Lake competing in Brandon Gray’s annual Bass Team Tournament Trail tourney with state Wildlife Oficer Johnny Young. Hopefully this will be the last weekend I come home empty handed. Either way I learned from the experience.

The winners of the Kerr Lake event were Chad Craven and Tom Farley, who teamed up to bring in almost 20 pounds and take home $1,170.

This is good news in that it feels like Kerr Lake is returning to its former quality of fishery after recovering from the LMBV (virus). It took over 15 pounds in a five-fish limit to cash the seventh place check and there were five sacks over 16 pounds in the 35 team field. That’s some high quality sacks.

SEE TIMING/PAGE B2

Success on the lake as much to do with timing

as skill

WALT

BOWENON THE WATER


J.F. Webb’s Devonte Williams (12) and Tyler Thomas (10) run toward the bench as they celebrate beating Rocky Mount, 68-64, in the 3-A Eastern Regional final Saturday night.

REGIONAL FINAL WARRIORS 68, ROCKY MOUNT 64

Defending 3-A state champions added to the list of the vanquished in Fayetteville


FAYETTEVILLE — Isaiah Hicks has been J.F. Webb’s Super-man all season long and he’s been sharing his cape, especially, in the Warriors’ postseason run.

Mitron Terry was the savior in the 3-A Carolina Conference tour-ney final at Chapel Hill and Stefan Cates led the way Friday night in the Eastern Regional semifinal win over Eastern Alamance.

Hicks took it upon himself Saturday to save the day as Webb clinched the school’s first state championship appearance with a 68-64 win over defending 3-A state champ Rocky Mount.

Hicks, held without a first-half field goal, came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of Webb’s 18 points and swatted away a potential game-tying shot with 12.3 seconds to play.

“We didn’t work this hard just to lose at regionals,” said Hicks. “We want to go the state champion-ship.”

And they will. The Warriors will meet Statesville Saturday at 7:30 p.m. inside N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum. Statesville knocked off Hunter Huss 74-71 in the Western Regional final.

Hicks finished with 22 points on the night, adding nine rebounds and six blocks. He was 10-of-10 from the free throw line. The War-

riors shot 87.5 percent at the line as a team to Rocky Mount’s 57.9.

Down 66-64, Rocky Mount’s Ma-son Hines drove toward the basket on the left baseline and had his shot denied by Hicks, who rejected it emphatically with one hand.

Webb’s Tyrek Beverly then bounced the ball off of a Rocky Mount player to give the Warriors possession with 12.3 seconds on the clock.

Stefan Cates sealed the game at the free throw line.

“Just really proud of this team and how hard they fought, how hard they never looked at the scoreboard and how well they compete,” said Webb coach Leo Brunelli. “This is a special group of young men. Just really proud.”

Brunelli fought back tears when asked of the win’s significance to the school and to Oxford, noting the purple “Team Meghan” warm-up T-shirts his Warriors wore into the post-game press conference.

Webb wears the shirts to honor Oxford’s Meghan Bunn, an 11-year-old battling brain cancer.

Bunn’s favorite Warrior, Hicks, scored each of his eight first-half points at the line and Webb, once again, had to overcome a slow start.

The Gryphons led 21-11 after the first quarter and 35-31 at halftime.

“Our whole thing was Isaiah is going to get his,” said Rocky Mount coach Michael Gainey. “Great ballplayer. Not worrying

about him. Let him get his. Mc-Donald’s All-American for a reason. Our thing was to try to slow the other guys down.”

Hicks didn’t net his first field goal until 1:37 to play in the third.

But Webb’s superhero had a sidekick to pick up the slack.

Devonte Williams nailed consec-utive 3-pointers midway through the third period to give Webb a 43-40 lead. He finished with 18 points, shooting 4-of-10 from long range.

“He saw that red line and thought he got four,” Brunelli said of Crown Coliseum’s NBA 3-point line. “And I explained to him yes-

terday, ‘Son, we can only get three no matter how deep you are.’”

Hicks picked up his third foul with 3:10 to play in the second quarter and sat the remainder of the half as his teammates out-scored Rocky Mount 7-4.

Mitron Terry and Tyrek Beverly each finished with four fouls.

“I told them I don’t want them to stop playing,” said Brunelli. “I just think we have to play a little smarter.

Rocky Mount’s 6-foot-5 junior big man, Dante Battle, had a game-high 27 points. Michael Gainey, Jr. added 19.

The Gryphons have won two of the last three 3-A state titles and made four consecutive regional appearances.

“They’re probably one of the best, well-coached, fundamentally disciplined teams we’ve played all season,” Brunelli said. “Look at the run they’ve been on. They brought our level up another level.”

Hicks was named the regional’s most outstanding player and was joined on the all-regional team by Williams.


Next stop: Reynolds ColiseumStory appeared

March 10, 2013

MARK DOLEJS / Dispatch StaffDevonte Williams drives against Rocky Mount in the 3-A Eastern Regional final.

A10 WEBB BB

The offi ce of Dr. Alex Drake and the offi ce of Dr.’s Marcella and Sid

Sockwell would like to congratulate Coach Brunelli and the J.F. Webb

Boys Basketball Team for winning the 2013 NCHSAA

Championship!

“Come Smile With Us”


ABOUT THIS

SECTION

Sports Editor Kellen HoltzmanNews Editor Allie Rae MauserDesign Alan WootenAd Director Deborah TuckCirculation A.J. WoodellPublisher James Edwards

Cover photography Cover photo by Mark Dolejs of The Dispatch

On the cover is the scene hundreds of schools across the state wish to experi-ence. The Dispatch knew Isaiah Hicks and the Warriors would be a strong team, but there are no guarantees for any game or any season. Webb rebounded from big-game losses at Chapel Hill to knock off the Tigers when it mattered most in the state playoffs. The Dispatch, with cooperation of sponsors and many within the Paxton Media Group, was able to put together this commemorative section as a keepsake for the team and its fans. Congratulations!

The Dispatch extends his appreciation to the athletics director and staff of J.F. Webb High School, and the cooperation of the basketball team.

CongratulationsTo Our StateChampion

Webb Warriors

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Webb State Championship: The Daily Dispatch: March 22, 2013

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