Robbinsville boys stunned in 3rd round
Ramseur – On the final offering from the charity stripe of his high-school chapter, Brock Adams sank his 1,000th career point.
Talk about cutting it close.
Adams’ history-making shot was the only bright spot to be found in Saturday’s 83-64 road loss to the Eastern Randolph Wildcats, which eliminated Robbinsville from the postseason after a magical 23-6 year that included both the Knights’ first Smoky Mountain Conference regular-season and tournament championships since 2013-14.
Reality set in quickly at Eastern Randolph (No. 3 seed, 28-2). Undefeated at home this year, the Wildcats unleashed the offensive weaponry of senior power forward DaVonte Brooks, who did whatever he wanted inside and finished the night with a team-high 26 points. Robbinsville (No. 6) simply could not thwart anything the 6-foot-4 center tried.
Channeling the attack of DaVonte Brooks, Timothy Brower (22 points) and Julian Brooks (13), Eastern Randolph quickly established a 6-7 point advantage in the first quarter. By halftime, the lead had grown to 43-28; at the dawn of the fourth, the score was 66-49.
Not to be overlooked, the Knights had four players in double-digits in the shootout: Donovan Carpenter pushed 19 through the net; Xander Wachacha fired 15 into the score column; Brock had 12 and his younger sibling Bryce tallied 11.
Brock is the only player of those four that departs the program. Carpenter and Wachacha enter their senior campaigns next year; Bryce will be a junior.
Seniors Austin Crisp, Caleb Draper and Bo Rattler also played their final games on the hardwood for Robbinsville. The latter had five in his swan song.
Eastern Randolph edged South Stokes (No. 2, 25-5) in the fourth round Tuesday, 74-71.
One final coronary
Robbinsville – How fitting that the Knights’ final home game of the year was against a divisional rival, Swain County.
But what befitted the narrative of the entire season was another blood pressure-spiking performance from what many in Robbinsville dubbed the “Heart-Attack Knights.”
Ahead 49-40 on Feb. 25 – with 1:30 left to go against the Maroon Devils – Swain County (No. 22, 13-14) slipped back into upset mode and in a span of 45 seconds, rallied with a trio of outside shots from Reese Winchester (who hit two) and Joshua Collins.
Robbinsville cashed in on a Brock Adams rebound at the 10-second mark, as he drove quickly across half-court before signaling for a timeout. The Knights drew up a play that saw Adams drive around the left side off an inbound pass, bouncing the ball inside to Bryce. The forward pumped a shot over a pair of Swain defenders that swished inside the rim with 1.2 seconds left to play, sending Robbinsville to the Sweet 16.
The win itself simply would not have occurred without the Black Knights’ stubborn defense showing off, as Robbinsville held Swain County to a pair of 8-point frames in the first and third.