High School Sports
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Mount Tabor wins 4-A championship
Hicks makes key steal in final seconds
AP Photo
Greg Jackson (33) and C.J. Harris celebrate Mount Tabor’s win against Fayetteville Sanford for the state title.
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Published: March 15, 2009
CHAPEL HILL - Point guard Chris Wilson of Fayetteville Sanford was working the ball up the court in the final minute of last night's Class 4-A state-championship game, poised to inflict more damage on Mount Tabor and help his team complete an improbable comeback.
But Josh Hicks of Mount Tabor denied him.
Hicks popped the ball loose from Wilson near midcourt and gathered it up for a steal with around 20 seconds left. It didn't matter that he missed his one-handed dunk attempt because the damage was done.
Seconds later, the Spartans (31-1) were celebrating a 60-55 victory and the first state championship in school history.
C.J. Harris scored 20 points, with 12 of them coming on free throws, and won the MVP award. But Hicks chipped in with 14 points, including a crucial jump shot in the final two minutes, and Alex Fagg finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.
As well as things went for Mount Tabor early, when they jumped ahead 25-8 in the first quarter, they held on and survived the rest of the way despite making five second-half field goals and being outrebounded 39-27.
I thought it was a tremendous game," Coach Andy Muse of Mount Tabor said. "Terry Sanford didn't quit and gave us everything we thought they would give us. We knew it was going to be a war, going to be a battle. We went through adversity and we knew it would be a game of runs and we held on at the end and finally that last second on the clock ticked off. I didn't think it would ever get to zero-zero-zero."
Every point of the first-quarter lead the Spartans built came in handy, as they were outscored 16-4 in the second quarter and they score stayed relatively close throughout the second half.
The Spartans led 50-38 when Harris made two free throws with 5:30 left, but Sanford went on an 8-3 run to close it to 52-46 and kept fighting until Wilson navigated a clogged lane for a tough basket with 32 seconds left, finally making it a one-possession game with 33 seconds left.
Hicks drew a foul on the next possession and made both free throws with 25 seconds left. He followed that with his clean steal of Wilson which took enough time off the clock for the Spartans to exhale. And the missed dunk allowed his teammates to smile for the first time since the first quarter.
"We always joke around about who gets the most dunks and it was really funny when he missed it," said Harris, who had a dunk in the first half. "We got a joke out of it."
The Spartans came out in their traditional three-quarter court zone press and never let up while building a commanding 25-8 lead. The flustered Bulldogs committed nine turnovers in the quarter, one of which Harris converted on a fast-break dunk. Zach Faircloth, a 6-2 guard and Sanford's leading scorer, picked up his third foul late in the quarter and didn't play again in the first half.
With Faircloth on the bench, Muse gave extended rest to most of his starters and Sanford opened the second quarter with an 11-1 run to climb back into the game.
Hicks broke the run with a 3-pointer with 1:58 left in the half, but Sanford scored the final two baskets of the quarter to close to 29-24 by halftime. The Spartans were 1 of 7 from the field and scored four points in the second quarter, and were outrebounded 16-8 in the first half.
"Those guys do a great job of using their athleticism to make it uncomfortable on offense," Sanford's Wilson said. "It was hard for us to get into any smooth offense with their pressure."
The Spartans, mostly Harris, erased Faircloth, holding him to three points -- 15 below his average -- before he fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Mike Mason added 12 points and 11 rebounds for Sanford.
"For me it's been 15 years at the helm at Mount Tabor and this win is not just the kids in uniform this year," Muse said. "It's for all the former players. It doesn't hurt to have three studs at the guard position as well."
Sanford 8 16 10 21 -- 55
Mount Tabor 25 4 13 18 -- 60
Sanford (28-4): Okons 3, Wilson 16, Mason 12, Faircloth 3, Vann 3, Stone 2, Carpenter 5, Brown 4, Salas 7
Mount Tabor (31-1): Grace 8, Harris 20, Hicks 14, Jackson 5, Fagg 9, Simpson 4
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