Reagan boys and girls pull upsets in Central Piedmont semifinals

WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA—The Central Piedmont 4A Conference boys and girls basketball tournaments were further turned on their heads during the semifinals on Wednesday night, with the No. 4 Reagan boys and No. 4 Reagan girls pulling off upsets to advance to Friday night’s championship games.

It was Muse vs. Muse as the No. 4 Reagan boys toppled No. 1 Mount Tabor, 45-41, just the second loss this season for the Spartans, who went undefeated in conference play during the regular season.

It was also the second time in his head coaching career that Adam Muse, the coach at Reagan, beat his father, Andy, the coach at Mount Tabor.

The Reagan boys will take on No. 3 East Forsyth in Friday’s championship game at 7:30 at Mount Tabor.

“We were composed tonight and didn’t let the pressure get to us,” said Adam Muse, whose team let a 12-point lead slip away in the last two minutes of a 54-52 loss against Mount Tabor on February 7. “We hit our free throws at the end of the ballgame and I’m glad our guys showed the resiliency they did. This league is cutthroat and any given night, any team could win any game. Night in and night out, you know you’re going to have a battle.”

Defense was the name of the game for both teams, with Reagan using a 10-0 run in the second quarter to open up its largest lead of the game at 22-11.

The Raiders also did it without one of their leading scorers, Jalill Rogers, in the game.

“We talked about that all week, that it’s all about one through fourteen,” Adam Muse said. “It doesn’t matter who’s in the game, we have to make sure everyone is ready to go. And we played a full 32 minutes tonight with great effort from everyone.”

Mount Tabor struck back to close the half with a flourish to pull within 22-19 at halftime.

The game remained close in the second half as the Spartans took the lead at 38-37 on a Snook Peterkin (14 points) layup with 2:55 left and then again at 40-39 after two free throws from Jadon Blair (10 points, 13 rebounds) gave them a 40-39 lead with 1:55 left.

Cooper Jackson gave the Raiders the lead right back with two free throws with 1:40 left, and then Caleb Ellison made a floater with 58 seconds left for a 43-40 lead. Reagan salted the game away with two more free throws from K.J. Ford, who scored a game high 15 points.

Mount Tabor (24-2) played most of the game without starter Joah Shay, who was hit in the face early in the game and had a cut open up. Despite trying to get the cut stitched up, it continued to bleed and Shay could not return to the floor.

“I felt like our team was thinking more about him not being in the game for a few minutes, but we still managed to get back into the game,” Andy Muse said. “But him not being on the court—he creates spacing for us and we just didn’t have that tonight. And in this league, there’s not a night you can just go out there, show up, and win.”

The only solace in the loss for Andy Muse came from the fact that his oldest son was the winning coach.

“I’m just really proud of him and the job he is doing there,” Andy Muse said. “He has his team playing well at the right time of the year. He’s had two big wins in the conference tournament now that will help his seeding for the state tournament.”

Reagan: 9 13 9 14 – 45

Mount Tabor: 10 9 8 14 -- 41

Reagan (15-11): K.J. Ford 15, Ellison 9, Powell 6, Rogers 4, Quarless 2, Jackson 3, C. Ford 6

Mount Tabor (24-2): Snook Peterkin 14, J.P. Peterkin 8, Robinson 3, Jadon Blair 10, Peral 6

Reagan girls 60, Parkland 50

The Reagan girls knocked off No. 1 seed Parkland, 60-50, by pulling away in the fourth quarter despite star center Emma Pendleton fighting foul trouble for most of the game.

Pendleton scored 11 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Raiders down the stretch, as a stingy 2-3 zone defense held Parkland to just one field during the final quarter.

The zone was also effective in the first quarter for Reagan (14-10), which got off to an 8-0 that held up for most of the game. Parkland did have several short-lived leads in the second half, the last coming at 43-42 with 7:22 left.

But Reagan used a 7-0 run from there, fueled by four straight points from Pendleton to get it started and take the lead again for good. The Mustangs, who entered the fourth quarter tied at 42 with the Raiders, didn’t get their first field goal until midway through the fourth quarter. Combined with a 5-of-10 performance from the free throw line, Parkland managed just eight points and couldn’t keep up after Reagan pulled away.

“We knew we needed to keep them off the boards and we were able to push them off the 3-point line tonight as well,” Coach Keith Gunter of Reagan said. “We played the zone most of the game and it kind of got them off their rhythm. They didn’t make their run at us until we went to man to man in the third quarter.”

Parkland trailed 32-24 at halftime but opened the third quarter on a 14-4 run and took its first lead of the game at 38-37 at the 3:09 mark after Amera Alexander’s layup.

“The key with them is to not letting No. 3 (Justace Williams) and No. 2 (Christiana Young) do too much, because they can kill you,” Gunter said. “And if they aren’t scoring, they can’t set up their press. And they are so quick that it can really give you fits. We were able to take care of the ball and be patient against them tonight. Getting off to that good start was big for us. We beat them twice during the regular season and we knew they would come out and bring it.”

It has been a season of ups and downs for Reagan. Gunter was an assistant coach with the team but took over during the third game of the season after Eric Radar had some health issues and retired.

“I think the girls are at the point now where they are buying in to the adjustment of me being the head coach,” Gunter said. “And this conference has been wide open all year. I told them that there was nobody on our schedule that we couldn’t beat and nobody that couldn’t beat us. It’s been really balanced, and I think you can see that playing out in the tournament.

Reagan will take on No. 6 West Forsyth in the championship game Friday night at 6 p.m. at Mount Tabor.

Reagan 17 15 10 18 -- 60

Parkland 13 11 18 8 -- 50

Reagan (14-10): Smith 4, Shelton 8, Corbin 5, Hines 9, Grace Galyon 13, Emma Pendleton 13

Parkland (19-6): Young 9, Justace Williams 14, Newsome 2, Alexander 9, Reed 7, Wilkins 9