Mission: accomplished

Robbinsville – Finally.

The last time Robbinsville’s varsity boys won a conference title in basketball, this year’s seniors were still in elementary school.

Words simply cannot express the respect the Black Knights have garnered with their strong campaign, which reached its regular-season conclusion Tuesday against Swain County (11-12, 5-5). With revenge clearly at the forefront of its mind, Robbinsville capped an 19-5 (8-2 in divisional play) record with a 69-47 victory over 

the Maroon Devils – who handed the Knights one of their two conference losses Jan. 19.

By comparison, Robbinsville went 3-20 during the 2019-20 march.

In just three short years, Tuesday’s triumph wrapped up the Black Knights’ first Smoky Mountain Conference title since the 2013-14 season.

“Unreal. They deserve it,” touted Robbinsville head coach Jake Beasley. “They’re super-good kids and play for each other. All year, we’ve broken it down on ‘family’ and there’s no doubt that’s what they are. They have each other’s backs every single night.”

Point guard Brock Adams was on that 3-20 squad – as a freshman.

“We really had a lot of motivation, because a little bit embarrassed about them coming out and getting ahead 30-8 in the first quarter,” noted Adams. “We wanted revenge on them, but we also had a conference championship, a No. 1-seed in the conference tournament on the line and possibly two home playoff games.

“There were a lot of factors that motivated us tonight. The last time that we won a conference championship, it was my brother Reece’s freshman year. Even as a kid, I could remember going into the locker room and seeing all the names and numbers on the wall. I would think, ‘I want to be a part of this.’ I feel like that was part of my motivation tonight: let’s put a number on that wall. This is amazing.”

The road ahead next runs through the divisional tournament, which kicks off tonight at Andrews. Brackets for the showcase were not released in time for Wednesday’s press deadline, but will be posted on The Graham Star’s Facebook and Instagram accounts as soon as possible.

Robbinsville will obviously receive the No. 1 seed, but also recognizes the importance of conquering the conference one last time before the postseason begins. A pair of regular-season and tournament titles can only increase the Knights’ chances of a high seed, which means the fate of home-court advantage – and the pursuit of an elusive 1A championship – literally rests in Robbinsville’s hands.

“Another thing that makes this group so special is how they hold each other accountable,” Beasley explained. “I came into the locker room after the game and they looked at me and said, ‘There’s more goals to be accomplished.’ So as fun as tonight’s win was for us, they’ve already got the next-game mindset. They’ve got their eyes on the conference-tournament championship.

“They’re not happy; they’re satisfied. Donovan (Carpenter) said it after the game, ‘We’re not done; we’re just getting started.’”

“Coach told us at the end, ‘Celebrate this, but come tomorrow, this is in the past; let’s get ready to work,’” Adams said. “We lost two games in a row earlier this season (at Cocke County, Tenn., Jan. 6 and Pisgah on Jan. 9) and he pulled us into the locker room and said, ‘Write down your goals and what you want to accomplish this year.’ Everybody on the team put, ‘Conference champion and conference-tournament champion.’ We want to win; it doesn’t matter who’s scoring, it’s, ‘Let’s win.’”

Robbinsville went a perfect 11-0 at home in the regular season. The Knights were 14-0 when limiting the opposition to 60 points or less in a game and when the going got tough – namely, overtime – Robbinsville has thrived this year: 5-0 during extra-period basketball.

“When we play defense, we can absolutely lock anybody down,” Beasley said. “Defense is where we’re at; they’re very, very solid defensively.”

Heavyweight battle

In a complete flip of the script, the Black Knights showed up to play Monday – but so did Hiwassee Dam.

The Eagles were trounced by Robbinsville 76-44 on Jan. 30, but visited Graham County on Monday with somethng to prove.

But even a hot night from Preston Hyde (32 points) and the speedy offense of Leo Hickson (15 points) was not enough to thwart the Knights, who simply turned the tempo to 11 and kept one step ahead in an 84-74 win.

From the opening tip, Bryce Adams and Carpenter unleashed fury. Bryce had eight points in the opening quarter – but six rebounds – while Carpenter launched a hat trick from outside in the first eight minutes.

Hiwassee Dam (10-12) attempted to stay steady in its attack, cutting the deficit to five several times in the second and even trimming the Knights’ lead to four on two separate occasions in the fourth. To reply, Robbinsville stayed calm – not that Xander Wachacha’s 4-for-4 run down the stretch at the foul line did not help separate the two programs.

All told, four Robbinsville shooters advanced to double-digits, led by a monster double-double from Bryce Adams (26 points, 13 rebounds) and Carpenter (21 points).

Magic Carpenter ride

It’s a tradition becoming all-too-familiar to opponents this season, but really punctuates just how much fun being the best in your conference can be.

The scenario normally plays out like this: teams needing to foul late – in order to keep their hopes of a rally alive – look on as Robbinsville secures the offensive rebound. The ball is chunked down the court to the home goal, where a lob in the air is cinched by junior small forward Carpenter and delivered through the rim via a game-ending dunk.

All the defending 1A state champions could do was watch as Carpenter broke out the trick to provide one final surge of energy for the home crowd Friday, sealing a 53-42 season sweep of Hayesville (13-10, 4-6).

Robbinsville showed a ton of aggression on the glass early, with the team recording 11 rebounds in the first quarter alone. The offense struggled, however and the Yellow Jackets stayed hot on the Knights’ trail through three quarters – even taking a 22-21 lead right out of halftime – but a mad dash in the closing minutes helped the Black Knights pull away.

Of note, Wachacha drained an outside shot at the 1:58 mark, which stamped a 7-0 run that Robbinsville used to break away from a stalemate.

And of course, Carpenter’s aforementioned slam with five seconds left to play. His night included a double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds), plus five steals and a rebound.

Junior varsity

A rampant flurry to comeback fell just short of the mark for the JV Black Knights on Friday, with Robbinsville (9-10) dropping a 44-42 outing to Hayesville.

On Michael Jordan Day (2-3-23), freshman Dane Knott unloaded – what else – 23 points in the loss, including five from beyond the arc.

Also scoring for the Knights was Luke Lovin, 6; Isiac Collins, 5; Kyzik Teesateskie, 3; Isaiah Brown and Everett Taylor, 2 each; and Tanner Hedden, 1.

Monday against Hiwassee Dam, the Knights downed the Eagles 58-39.

Collins and Lovin raced away with the team-high in points, dropping 15 each in the win.

Knott had 12, while Teesateskie recorded seven.

Hedden posted five and Lambert threw up a third-period bucket to fill out the scoreline.

In the regular-season finale Tuesday, Robbinsville held firm in a tightly-knit 49-45 victory.

Teesateskie launched a trio of trey’s, eventually running up a Knights-best 13 points.

Knott and Lovin had 12 apiece, while Collins connected for six.

Hedden’s 4 and Brown’s 2 rounded out the book.