Greene Central falls to Forest Hills in NCHSAA 2A boys basketball championship
Greene Central's dream season came up a little short on Saturday.
The Rams fell 63-59 to Forest Hills in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 2A boys basketball state championship at the Dean Smith Center.
There was no reason to hang heads, said Greene Central coach Charles Harris.
"I don't think we lost a basketball game today, I think (Forest Hills) won a basketball game today," Harris said. "It's tough. If I go back and look at film, I want to say most (of their 3s) were contested or we have a hand in their face."
Forest Hills shot 44.4 percent from 3, but most of those came in one wild quarter.
Greene Central (26-7) trailed Forest Hills (30-2) 25-22 at halftime in part because of star forward Imajae Dodd's foul trouble. Dodd, a junior with an offer from ECU, picked up two fouls in the first quarter and missed most of the half.
Then came the third, and Forest Hills hit 7 of 10 from 3 to take a 49-39 lead.
"It wasn't like we were giving them wide-open looks," Harris said. "They made big shots."
The Rams cut the lead to two several times in the final period, but could never get over the hump.
The Greene Central players all had praise to give coach Harris, who took a program that hadn't made the playoffs in eight years and, in his fourth year, had the Rams in their first state title game.
"He really just brought work ethic," Tyquan Williams said.
But Harris returned the praise, particularly for his five seniors.
"We wouldn't be standing here if they didn't buy in, we wouldn't be standing here if they didn't put the work in," Harris said. "These kids changed the culture, they changed the community, they changed the town."
Torrence Clark (12 points, 11 rebounds, six assists) earned the Most Outstanding Player award for Greene Central, while Trey Belin (10 points) did for Forest Hills. Forest Hills' Jai Rorie (22 points, 6 of 14 from 3) was voted MVP.
Greene Central had a balanced scoring attack: Imajae Dodd had 11 points (seven rebounds), DonQuez Davis had 12, Donte Johnson had 10, Rhaheem Edwards had eight and Williams added six.
Forest Hills point guard Jaleel McLaughlin was second on his team with 16 points.
This story was originally published March 10, 2018 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Greene Central falls to Forest Hills in NCHSAA 2A boys basketball championship."