School's out, game's on for area hoops teams

Three of the top high school boys basketball players in the state are expected to play in Word of God's holiday event today and Saturday.

Wayne Country Day, led by 6-foot-6 Virginia Commonwealth recruit Reco McCarter, plays Fayetteville United Faith, led by 6-2 Florida State recruit Ian Miller, at 6 p.m.

Word of God's standout is 6-8 C.J. Leslie, who is one of the top uncommitted seniors in the country. The Rams play Monroe Jireh at 7:30.

In other events, Rocky Mount plays East Chapel Hill and Knightdale takes on Wilson Fike in boys games at Knightdale. The girls matchups are Rocky Mount vs. Wake Forest-Rolesville and Knightdale vs. Wilson Fike.

Southern Durham plays in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A football playoffs tonight, but will be the host school for a showcase event on Saturday.

The schedule is Durham Riverside girls vs. Clayton, 11:30 a.m.; Clayton boys vs. Durham Arts, 1 p.m.; Riverside boys vs. Forsyth Country Day at 2:30; Holly Springs girls vs. Burlington Cummings, 4:00; Holly Springs boys vs. Erwin Triton, 5:30; Southern Durham girls vs. Garner, 7:00; and Southern Durham boys vs. Garner, 8:30.

Another GSK change: The GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational has made a change in its lineup. Southern Wayne is in and Rocky Mount is out. Rocky Mount had been added to replace Chapel Hill, which dropped out.

Southern Wayne will play Word of God in the opening round on Saturday, Dec. 26 at Broughton at 9 p.m. Earlier on opening day, Wilson Greenfield plays Apex at 5:40 and Enloe plays Cardinal Gibbons at 7:20. The South Central Pitt girls play Northern Durham in the opener at 2:40 and the Broughton girls play Apex at 4 p.m.

On Monday, there are some losers bracket games in the morning, but some of the top players in the country will show up for the afternoon and night games. Marietta (Ga.) Walton plays Millbrook at 12:40 followed by West Charlotte vs. Red Springs McDonald at 2:40; Manhattan (N.Y.) Rice vs. Durham Riverside, 1:40; Forsyth Country Day vs. Charlotte United Faith, 5:40; and Garner vs. Kinston, 7:20.

The 9 p.m. game will be a semifinal from among the boys teams that played on Saturday.

Central Harnett response: Tuesday's story about Harnett Central's football past kindled lots of memories, judging by the response.

E-mails came in from throughout the state. A couple calls noted that Central went 5-5 during its first season, coached by current Harnett County superintendent Phil Ferrell.

Athens Drive pitcher signs: Blair Betts, a left-handed baseball pitcher, recently signed with Indiana.

The 6-foot, 195-pound senior struck out 76 batters in 49 innings last spring at Athens Drive. He had a 1.71 earned run average.

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