East Chapel Hill retires the jersey of the late Chris Hobbs
The Riverside boys basketball team might be the PAC-6 regular season champions, but East Chapel Hill has bragging rights. With Friday night’s 67-48 victory over the Pirates, coach Ray Hartsfield’s team completed the season sweep of Riverside (17-7, 9-3).
Seven different players scored in the win for East Chapel Hill (16-7, 7-5), but it was junior guard Carter Collins who led the charge with a team-best 20 points. When Collins wasn’t scoring, he was also setting up his teammates for good looks at the basket.
“I’m really proud of Carter tonight because he really trusted his teammates,” Hartsfield said. “He can’t do it all by himself.”
Earlier on in the evening, the Riverside girls (18-5, 10-2) won their fourth consecutive game, topping the Wildcats (12-10, 4-8) 53-42 in the regular season finale.
Boys
Facing one of the PAC-6’s more athletic and offensively talented teams, East Chapel Hill wanted to get off to a fast start and dictate the tempo of the game. The Wildcats did both of those things on Friday.
“We tried to come out and bring the intensity and bring a lot of energy,” Collins said.
East Chapel Hill outscored Riverside by 10 points in the second quarter and used its stellar 3-point shooting to take a 14-point advantage into halftime. Riverside coach Brian Strickland said his team froze at times and couldn’t respond on the offensive front.
“I think (East Chapel Hill) had five possessions in a row where they hit a three and I think it stunned us,” Strickland said.
In addition to Collins, sophomore guard Justin Tucker (13 points), junior guard Jonathan Runyambo (11 points) and sophomore forward Nick DeCapite (10 points) each scored in double-figures for East Chapel Hill.
“They had some guys that stepped up tonight and made some good shots,” Strickland said.
Senior guard Justin Johnson led the Pirates with 12 points in a losing effort.
Girls
Despite already having the No. 2 seed for next week’s PAC-6 conference tournament locked up, the Riverside girls showed no signs of complacency and raced out to a 16-6 first quarter advantage as the Pirates won their tenth conference game of the season.
That’s not to say East Chapel Hill didn’t put up a fight, though. Thanks to a 28-point performance from senior guard Ali Cyr-Scully, the Wildcats cut an 18-point second half deficit down to five points with less than four minutes remaining before Riverside ultimately held on.
Sophomore guard Ashauntee Nelson led Riverside with 16 points in the win and she believes the Pirates can do very well in next week’s conference tournament.
“We actually feel really good,” Nelson said. “I have confidence in myself and my teammates.”
Hobbs’ jersey retired
East Chapel Hill honored and remembered the late Chris Hobbs by retiring his No. 43 jersey before tipoff. Hobbs, who went on to play four seasons at Clemson, passed away unexpectedly in Feb. 2015 at the age of 33.
As a freshman at East Chapel Hill, Hobbs helped the school win the 1997 N.C. High School Athletics Association 3A championship in the Wildcats’ first year.
Hartsfield remembers Hobbs for both his physical play on the court and his kindness off of it.
“Chris was a gentle giant” Hartsfield said. “If you saw him walking down the court, you’d be like ‘Oh my goodness.’ He looked like a bear. He would just intimidate you. But he was the nicest guy you’d ever meet in your life.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 12:17 AM with the headline "East Chapel Hill retires the jersey of the late Chris Hobbs."