As far as Duane Phillips is concerned, he will be representing not only Davie County in tonight’s 52nd annual East-West All-Star Basketball Game but North Rowan as well.
Phillips transferred from the North Rowan area in the seventh grade and decided that basketball was going to be his sport.
Barry Whitlock was certainly happy about that. The South Davie Middle School coach told me one day, “We’ve got a transfer that can be something else.”
That was about six years ago and my reaction was the norm: “Sure. Right.”
Davie County didn’t win in basketball. Since Dwayne Grant played in the East-West Game in 1977, the War Eagles averaged seven wins per season. That’s not good. So why get excited about a seventh grader. Usually, any good basketball player in Davie County either transferred or quit.
Luckily for Mocksville fans, Phillips didn’t quit. He was going to but Davie hired Jim Young, a cocksure Yankee from Pennsylvania, who told Phillips as a freshman that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Luckily for Mocksville fans, Phillips didn’t transfer. He was going to but told Young he wasn’t going anywhere.
“I was thinking about going back to North but I had too much going for me at Davie,” Phillips said. “Coach Young came and that was a sign for me to stay.”
Under Young’s guidance, Phillips has become one of the best basketball players in North Carolina. He will join West Rowan’s All-American Scooter Sherrill on the West team for tonight’s 9 p.m. start in the Greensboro Coliseum.
Phillips and Scooter will follow the girls game, which features West Rowan’s Kari Schenk. Phillips will join them with the burden of representing two counties.
“My dad’s side and my mom’s side will be there and Scooter’s going to be there,” Phillips said. “There’s going to be a lot of Salisbury fans there. I’m going out there to play my game and have some fun.”
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Phillips wanted to be on the same court with Scooter since the Sam Moir Christmas Tournament. But West was beaten by North in the semifinals. So Phillips showcased his up-and-coming game against his former Spencer buddies in front of 3,000 fans at Catawba College. The result: a Davie victory and an MVP trophy for the Great Duane.
That put Phillips on a pedestal. He, not Scooter, had dominated the annual tournament and he was the one bringing the oohs and ahhs from the gallery.
By the time the season had ended, he and Scooter had practically identical scoring averages (24 ppg). They were both all-state. And Phillips had led the school who averaged seven wins a year to a 21-6 record.
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West coach Mike Gurley became a believer. He told Eden Morehead coach John Harder he should take Phillips.
“I told him Duane was a scoring machine,” said Gurley recently. “The East is loaded with height and the big names but Scooter or Duane could be the leading scorers in the game.”
It should be the type of game Phillips craves. There is little defense played and a run-and-gun atmosphere usually prevails. Phillips, headed for Spartanburg Methodist Junior College, is a pure shooter. So get ready.
Davie was one of four powerful Central Piedmont Conference teams, three of which put players on the West. West Forsyth’s bull of a forward J.K. Edwards, who will join Concord’s Marcus Cooke at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa, and Mount Tabor’s Joel Justus, headed for UNC-Wilmington, will play. The other powerful CPC team, Reynolds, won the state 4A title but won’t have anyone on the West. Why? The Demons were all juniors, sophomores and freshmen.
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Scooter, headed for N.C. State, will see plenty of familiar ACC faces. The East will have 6-10 Michael Bell of Raleigh and 6-9 Marcus Melvin of Fayetteville, both Wolfpack signees, and Fayetteville’s Michael Joiner, headed for Florida State. 6-10 Chris Wilcox, who played with Bell at Enloe, is going to Maryland.
No one really knows Phillips outside this area but after tonight? He knows this is his big moment.
“Of course, there is going to be some butterflies in my stomach,” Phillips said. “But I’m looking forward to it. That’s going to be a fun challenge.
“And if I’m open, you know I’m going to shoot it.”
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Schenk is going to Appalachian state but not to play.
Jackie Wood, a former North and South player is on the roster for the West girls but may not play due to injury. She has been replaced by Niki Fauntleroy of East Henderson.
Ronnie