WS Chronicle

By Timothy Ramsey

The Chronicle

After a long and grueling JV basketball season, the R.J. Reynolds Demons were crowned conference champions of the Central Piedmont Conference.  With the conference championship still up in the air, going into the last game of the year, favor was on the side of the Demons, who took home the title by just one game.

The Demons actually lost their final game of the year and thought they had lost the conference lead in the process.  But following losses by the other teams at the top of the conference, the Demons found out they were the champs.

“At the end of the game on Friday, everyone was mad,” said  Devin Ingram, Demon starting point guard.  “After my friend sent a message in a group chat saying we had won the conference everyone just totally forgot we had just lost.  It was probably the best thing that happened to me that whole day.”

Reynolds guard John Powers added, “When I found out we were champs, I was just really happy because we worked really hard throughout the year.  It’s good to finally be rewarded in the end with that.”

Head Coach Mike McCulloch said after his team started the year at 4-3, he thought his team might just have an average year.  He said once he had all the kinks worked out concerning his lineup and gave some of the freshman more minutes, things started to work out for them.

“I really thought with not just the wins and losses that we did improve as a team from week to week,” McCulloch said.  “I thought we were improving almost every game.  That’s kind of my goal of the season, to improve every week.”

The Demons finished the season with a 7-3 record overall in the conference.  McCulloch says he was extremely proud and happy for his team.  He says even though they may not receive a plaque or anything for this accomplishment, he knows it means a great deal to his team.

They have many fond memories from this past season.  Ingram and Powers say that for all the guys the overwhelming moment of the year was sweeping in-town rival Mt. Tabor.

“Beating Tabor that second time was the thing I wanted the most,” Ingram said.  “This is a rivalry and we can always say that we swept them and they have nothing to back up their claim when they say they are better than us.  I don’t like Tabor because when they win they do a whole bunch of talking.”

Powers said, “My most memorable moment is playing Tabor and beating them twice.  But also starting out the year as we did and to finish the year with like a 10-2 record is really good.”

For McCulloch he says he used to teach at Tabor and for them to sweep the Spartans was very nice.  He says they used them as a measuring stick as the team to beat since they won the Lash/Chronicle tournament. He also said the game against North Davidson sticks out in his mind because they were down double figures in the fourth quarter and came back to win.

McCulloch said this team was a collection of a good group of guys.  He says they had a maturity that’s atypical of such a young team.  He credits Ingram and Powers for leading the guys in practice.  For him he says he just likes to stay consistent and keep expectations clear and the kids respond well for the most part.

Powers says that the team really came together late in the season and he thinks that had a great deal as to why they were able to win the conference. He says going forward the feeling of winning will help them in their high school careers.  Ingram said after the success of this year he can see this group of guys winning the state championship their senior year.