With help, Mount Tabor grabs top spot in Central Piedmont
Photo by Craig T. Greenlee
Power forward Dillon Bullard of Mount Tabor was a prime factor in the paint.
BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE
FOR THE CHRONICLE
Even though Mount Tabor won the mythical championship of the Central Piedmont 4-A Conference in JV basketball, it didn’t happen the way coach Willie Harrison thought it would.
The Spartans took a big step toward sealing the title with a convincing road win over West Forsyth last Monday. One night later, however, they suffered an over-time loss to Davie County in their final conference game of the season. Mount Tabor (18-3, 10-2 CPC) claimed sole possession of first place in the conference when West Forsyth (16-5, 8-3) beat Reynolds last Tuesday. Prior to that game, the Demons (15-4) had only two conference losses. They needed to win in order to force a first-place tie with the Spartans.
With Reynolds losing, Mount Tabor made good on its season-long objective to finish at the top of the CPC standings for the second year in a row. “By default, we backed in to win the conference,” said Harrison. “Against Davie, we played like we already knew we had it (conference) won. Our defense wasn’t what it needed to be. On offense, we played too much one-on-one.” That was hardly the case the night before in the Spartans 63-52 victory. Darren Crump (15 points) led the offense that had three other players who scored in double figures. Dillon Bullard (fouled out in the fourth quarter) and Recardo Paige finished with 13 points apiece. Quest Aldridge chipped in with 11.
Mount Tabor got sizzling perimeter shooting from Paige and Aldridge who combined to hit six 3-pointers (three each).
The Spartans took control of the game for good midway through the third quarter. West Forsyth rallied to close the gap to 48-44. At that point, Mount Tabor started to pull away.
Bullard completed a three-point play, followed by Crump’s steal and score on a fast-break lay-up. By the end of the quarter, the Spartans held a commanding 58-48 lead.
“We got off to a good start, made some shots and played defense very well, especially at the beginning,” said Harrison. “They never adjusted to our (1-3-1) zone in the first half. Other than a few slip-ups in the second half, we were able to maintain on offense and defense. In the final analysis, the Titans couldn’t overcome the Spartans’ decisive run over the last half of the third quarter.
JaQuan McMillian was the top scorer for West Forsyth with 17 points. Jaylon McMillon was next with 12 points.
“We were able to get it (deficit) down to four points in the third quarter,” said coach Jefferey Williams of West Forsyth. “But then, they came down and had an and one (three-point play). After that, we couldn’t get much going. They did a good job of opening us up (on offense) and attacking the gaps.”
In the loss to Davie, the Spartans failed to close-out on 3-pointers and it cost them dearly in a 74-70 overtime loss last Tuesday. This defeat could be considered somewhat surprising. It was almost a month earlier that the Spartans beat the War Eagles by 27 points (59-32).
Bullard topped Mount Tabor with 26 points and Paige added 13. Carson Anthis and Aldridge contributed nine points apiece.
“Davie shot the 3-ball very well,” said Harrison. “And they got some good looks on dribble-drives and kick-outs (passes). We didn’t do much with our help defense and they just killed us.”
