HS Rewind: Central Cabarrus upsets No. 1 seed, heads to The Throne high school national semis

Central Cabarrus is two wins away from a mythical national high school championship.

The N.C. 3A state champions upset the No. 1 overall seed at The Throne National Championship at Morehouse College in Atlanta Thursday afternoon. The game was televised nationally by NBA TV.

Central Cabarrus beat John Marshall (VA) 67-65.

N.C. State recruit Dennis Parker tied the game at 65 for John Marshall with a free throw with 33.9 seconds left, but missed the second. A teammate rebounded the miss but turned the ball over and Central Cabarrus’ Jaiden Thompson made a go-ahead, game-winning basket on the play.

John Marshall did get one last shot to win, but it missed a long 3-point shot at the buzzer.

Due to national high school rules, teams at the Throne are playing as club teams. Central Cabarrus is called the N.C. Vikings. Marshall is called the Judges.

Central Cabarrus, the No. 9 seed, will play Second II None (IL) in Friday’s 7 p.m. semifinal on the NBA streaming app. Second II None players are from Chicago’s famous Simeon High School, which has produced NBA talent like Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker. The team’s star this season is forward Miles Rubin, a 6-foot-8 power forward signed to Loyola of Chicago.

Simeon finished 32-4 this season, reaching the Illinois 3A state championship game.

This is first year for The Throne, a 16-team, single-elimination event at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The tournament is affiliated with the National Basketball Players Association and games are airing live on NBA TV and Fox Sports 1.

Thursday’s win was huge for Central Cabarrus, which was 32-0 in its N.C. high school season. The Vikings finished the season ranked No. 15 by MaxPreps nationally.

During high school season, Parker and John Marshall High finished the season as the No. 1 ranked team in MaxPreps national poll and beat Radford 91-34 in the Virginia 2A state championship game. John Marshall finished the season 28-0.

Central Cabarrus, which finished the season 32-0 and won the N.C. 3A state championship, won its opening round game Wednesday, beating S.C. state champions Dorman 62-51.

Central coach Jim Baker is not coaching in Atlanta, due to N.C. rules, but team parent, Bronwyn Smyre Kent-Glover, has guided the team to the semifinals.

Her son, Desmond Kent, was MVP of the N.C. 3A state championship game and was named Charlotte Observer sixth man of the year. Kent-Glover was recently inducted into the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (GA) Hall of Fame.

Wednesday’s HS Rewind

Here are Wednesday’s high school spring sports results from The Charlotte Observer’s coverage zone

#BiG5 TOP PERFORMERS

Jordan Grice, North Mecklenburg softball: triple, single, three RBIs in a 13-2 win over West Charlotte.

Ashelynn Jacobson, Butler girls lacrosse: eight goals in a 10-5 win over Sun Valley.

Caleb Summey, Bessemer City baseball: single, double and three RBIs in a 13-3 win over Hunter Huss.

Elijah Sutherland, East Gaston baseball: five RBIs in a 10-0 win over Forestview.

Taniyah Thomas, East Lincoln softball: 3-for-5 with a double, a home run, four RBIs and four runs scored in a 13-0 win over St. Stephens.

BASEBALL

Alexander Central 5, Mooresville 4: Connor Robertson hit two doubles and scored twice for Mooresville.

Bessemer City 13, Hunter Huss 3: Bessemer City’s Caleb Summey singled, doubled, and drove in three runs.

Christ the King 11, Corvian Community 7: The Crusaders won their seventh in a row, rallying from behind with six runs in the seventh inning. Keldyn Vincent went 2-for-2, driving in three runs, for Corvian.

Cox Mill 25, Northwest Cabarrus 4

Crest 5, Stuart Cramer 1: Nate Brittain drove in the Storm’s only run in this Big South 3A game.

East Gaston 10, Forestview 0: Elijah Sutherland drove in five runs, and starting pitcher Dylan Howell worked five two-hit innings, striking out 11.

Hough 12, Lincoln Charter 2

Mount Pleasant 8, Parkwood 4

North Iredell 20, Statesville 0

Olympic 6, Butler 3

Piedmont 9, Weddington 4: Clayton Sherwood worked 6.1 innings in getting the Southern Carolina 4A victory, with Preston Beacum earning the save.

Porter Ridge 8, Cuthbertson 6

St. Stephens 4, East Lincoln 2

South Rowan 3, Lake Norman Charter 2 (8 innings): Lake Norman Charter starting pitcher Colin Weathers scattered four hits and allowed no earned runs in six innings, but the Knights suffered an extra-inning South Piedmont 3A loss.

Sun Valley 4, Marvin Ridge 2

Union Academy 10, Langtree Charter 8: Beckett Gurion scored three times for Union Academy, while Cullen Barbee drove in two Langtree runs.

West Lincoln 6, Shelby 5

West Mecklenburg 19, Garinger 8: Trenton Mack-Horne had three hits, including two doubles, and six RBI for West Meck. Garinger’s Fernando Ayala had two hits, scored three runs, and drove in three.

West Rowan 12, Forest Hills 1

SOFTBALL

Central Cabarrus 5, Mount Pleasant 1

Cherryville 8, Stuart Cramer 2

East Lincoln 13, St. Stephens 0: Taniyah Thomas went 3-for-5, with a double and home run, and she drove in four runs. Thomas also scored four times in the Mustangs’ Western Foothills 3A romp. Teammate Jaelyn Freeston homered twice, and Madison Currence drove in four more runs.

Forestview 13, East Gaston 4: The Jaguars’ Madison Ladin homered and drove in four runs in the victory.

Hickory Ridge 2, Mooresville 0: The Blue Devils knocked off the state’s 4A top-ranked softball team behind the pitching of Anna Dew. With 12 strikeouts, Dew pitched Mooresville (10-1, 6-0) into first place. Hickory Ridge is 8-3, 4-1.

Lincoln Charter 5, Charlotte Christian 4: Sarah Terrell went 4-for-4, including a double and triple, as the Eagles knocked off the defending private school 4A state champion. Hailey Conde doubled and drove in a run for Charlotte Christian.

Myers Park 13, Butler 0

North Gaston 11, Bessemer City 0: Megan Towery tossed a one-hitter and struck out 10.

North Iredell 18, Statesville 0: The Raiders’ Elleigh Williams drove in four runs.

North Mecklenburg 13, West Charlotte 2: The Vikings rolled to a Queen City 3A-4A victory, as Jordan Grice smacked a triple and two singles, driving in three runs.

Northwest Cabarrus 10, A.L. Brown 4: The hosts broke a 4-4 tie by scoring six times in the bottom of the sixth. Kayla Jackling had three hits for A.L. Brown.

Piedmont 11, Providence 1: Jailyn Thomas’ three hits and two RBI led the host Panthers to a lopsided victory.

Pine Lake Prep 16, Langtree Charter 0

South Rowan 3, South Iredell 1

Union Academy 10, Marvin Ridge 7: The Cardinals, a 1A powerhouse, stunned the 4A Mavericks, as Gracie Hollingsworth slammed two home runs and drove in six runs.

Weddington 7, Ardrey Kell 1

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Central Academy 7, Parkwood 0

Christ the King 8, Bradford Prep 2: The Crusaders, ranked No. 1 in 1A, got two goals apiece from Katie Reyes, Ellie Gorman and Lindsey O’Donnell.

East Lincoln 1, St. Stephens 1

North Iredell 5, Statesville 0

Piedmont Community Charter 2, Corvian Community 1

Pine Lake Prep 10, Langtree Charter 0: Maddyson Kerley scored three goals, and Gracie Hughes added two goals and two assists.

Queens Grant Charter 9, Carolina International 0

Shelby 2, Highland Tech 1

Union Academy 9, Mount Pleasant 0

BOYS’ LACROSSE

Community School of Davidson 11, Cuthbertson 6

Bethesda (MD) Georgetown Prep 11, Cannon School 6

Hough 12, Myers Park 5

Lake Norman 13, Northwest Guilford 5

Lake Norman Charter 16, Mountain Island Charter 2: Tyler Price and Riley Cerosky each had three goals and an assist, and Jack Dalton added a goal and seven assists for the Knights.

GIRLS’ LACROSSE

Butler 10, Sun Valley 5: Ashelynn Jacobson’s eight goals led the Bulldogs.

Charlotte Catholic 18, Charlotte Country Day 9

Cuthbertson 17, Nation Ford (SC) 8

Myers Park 13, Charlotte Latin 11

Providence 9, Lake Norman Charter 8: Gaby Bernardo scored three goals, but the Knights dropped this nonconference game.

South Iredell 16, Pine Lake Prep 14: The Vikings’ Briana McCune scored six goals in the victory.

West Forsyth 11, Hough 4

BOYS’ TENNIS

Carmel Christian 5, Charlotte Latin 4: Six of the nine matches were closely contested, but the Cougars got big victories from Owen Akers in No. 1 singles and Noah Daniels at No. 2. Akers edged Andrew Chen 6-0, 7-6 (6). Daniels got past Emilio Llerenas 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (3).

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle