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Twice the Elite Eight for East Rutherford in Greensboro This Week

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Kevin Carver

Well, we are down to two teams in the high school basketball playoffs and both are halfway to the goal of becoming state champions in 2014.

East Rutherford boys (21-5) will go to the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday night (3/6/14) and play last year’s 1A champion North Rowan (19-5) at 7:30pm. North Rowan moved up to 2A after realignment this offseason and have already caught attention as they beat Shelby this past Friday.

The Cavalier boys have played well in the last three weeks or so. This past Friday, East Rutherford beat a very athletic Forest Hills in the third round.

The Cavaliers took control in the second half as maybe the best defender this season, Kaleb McIntyre, went off from deep, hitting five 3’s and scoring 21 in the 81-58 victory. Devonte Boykins also played incredible with 13 rebounds, two 3’s and 23 points.

“We are playing well right now, believing in each other, playing unselfishly and having fun,” East Rutherford Coach Brad Levine said. “I really think that they believe that they are suppose to win this thing now.”

Should East Rutherford survive Thursday, they would face the Smoky Mountain (undefeated)-Hunter Huss winner, Saturday at 4pm in Greensboro.

East Rutherford girls (23-2) had Franklin (23-3) on Tuesday (3.4.14) and will face East Davidson or Bandys (undefeated) on Saturday at noon if they beat Franklin at Greensboro. Coming into the week, Coach Larry Ross’s group has won 22 games in a row.

Rachel Camp will go down as Rutherford County’s at least best girls player ever as the Virginia Tech signee has claimed over 3,000 points now in her career. North Surry and Thomasville both gave East Rutherford some trouble in the playoffs, but the Lady Cavs were able to pull away late.

Especially in the Thomasville game, Camp put up 32 points in her last home game, Shay Dewberry scored 15 points and Justine Greene had six huge blocks. It didn’t end there with Emily Elsin coming up big on a couple of layups down the stretch and Tamara Blanton’s late three in a 67-56 final against a feisty Bulldog team. Good luck to both teams who are left to represent Rutherford County!

Rutherford County started out with five teams in the postseason, but three were knocked out by round two.

Thomas Jefferson boys, who played their best season by far on the basketball court in the program’s history

The Gryphons were not a big club among size, but for once they had some depth.

Thomas Jefferson (16-8, 10-2) finished second in the Southern Piedmont 1A and upset Cherryville on the road to sit atop the league for a little while until a loss at Community School of Davidson and then at home against Cherryville settled it.

The Gryphons won their second playoff game in school history with a 94-54 thumping of Blue Ridge in the first round last week, but fell at Robbinsville in round two.

Thomas Jefferson girls hit the road, but were dealt defeat in the first round of the playoffs. Although, the season ended at Hiwassie Dam, Thomas Jefferson (10-14, 6-6) started off the year struggling until midseason. In their first year as a member of the Southern Piedmont 1A Conference, that when things turned around snagging a number of close league wins to finish fourth overall in conference. In return they grabbed one of the last remaining spot in the 1A West, which was an accomplishment they should be proud of earning.

R-S Central boys (13-12, 7-9) thought they would be a playoff surpriser and so did I. Instead, they ended up with a tough foe to start the playoffs at East Lincoln. The home standing Mustangs went off as they went up by double digits early and never looked back ending the Hilltoppers season. It’s kind of odd, but if R-S Central loses one more regular season game, they may have been playing on the other side of bracket in the third round with favorable matchups against either North Wilkes, Owen, Lake Norman Charter or Bunker Hill in the first two rounds.

Still, the Hilltoppers were a tough out every night and the defense played well for most of the season. The biggest wins came against McDowell (twice) East Burke (twice) and Avery. And if it’s any consolation, they lost six games by 10 points or less.

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