Which Raleigh-area teams are peaking as high school basketball season hits final week?
Fresh off a big win over Wakefield this past Friday, the Wake Forest boys will play three games this week toward a goal 21 years in the making. The Cougars last won a basketball conference championship during the 2000-01 season as a member of the Tri-Eight 4A Conference.
Twenty-one years ago, the Stadium Drive school was known as Wake Forest-Rolesville. Wake Forest (16-3, 7-0) will visit Rolesville (which opened in 2013) on Friday, possibly bookending an historic run.
The first place Cougars have plenty of business to take care of first, though. Wake Forest will visit Millbrook on Monday, and then, welcome the Wildcats to Larry Lindsey Gymnasium on Tuesday. Millbrook is also 7-0 in Northern Athletic 4A league play.
Oh, and the defending state champion.
Wake Forest includes a trio of juniors — Dashaun Grant, Nigel Lucas, and A.J. Smalls — averaging double figures in scoring. The 2000-01 conference championship team was also led by three juniors — Eric Williams, Bryan Nieman, and Tommy Moore.
The Cougars’ interior difference maker very well may be 6-foot-6 sophomore Jaevian Alston, who averages 11 points and more than five rebounds per outing.
Alston celebrated his birthday last week by helping Wake Forest to that 76-57 win Friday at Wakefield, and a regular season sweep of the Wolverines.
Cardinal Gibbons seeks Cap 7 sweep
The Cardinal Gibbons girls and boys will seek wins against Sanderson on Tuesday before heading to Athens Drive on Friday for a potential Cap 7 4A Conference championship doubleheader. Both Crusaders teams are led by first-year head coaches — Cheryl Reid (girls) and Brent Nolan (boys).
The Cardinal Gibbons girls (18-2, 8-0) include four double-digit scorers — three juniors and a sophomore. The Crusaders are seeking their first conference championship since the 2011-12 campaign when Reid’s oldest daughter, Morgan, was a starting sophomore point guard. This year’s team is led by junior Rhian Lawrence (16 points per game).
The Reid and Lawrence connections extend to the Crusader boys. Lawrence’s brother, junior Landen (7 points per game, 5 rebounds per game) is among the team’s top four scorers and rebounders. Cardinal Gibbons’ boys (12-9, 5-3) are seeking their first conference championship since the 2014-15 season when Reid’s oldest son, Justin, was a starting senior forward.
Matthew Field, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, puts in 11 points and 7 rebounds per game for the Raleigh-based Catholic school.