NCHSAA Championships: Rocky Mount 84, Concord 79

Associated Press

CHAPEL HILL — Tashawn Mabry and his Rocky Mount teammates knew their school's history, but the Gryphons hadn't been in a state championship game in a long time.

The last time was in 1982, before any of them were born.

That didn't matter Saturday night as Mabry finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds, leading four Gryphons in double figures as they held off Concord 84-79 in the Class 3-A North Carolina High School Athletic Association men's basketball championship game.

It was the fourth state title for the Gryphons (24-3), but the first since 28 years earlier when the school was in Class 4-A.

"We have gone through the storm this year at our place," Rocky Mount coach Michael Gainey said. "We seem to have overcome all of that. We've accomplished a goal and the pressure is off.

"Concord didn't quit and we didn't want to slow down. I call it street ball. Now we're going to go back to Stone Park and Sunset Park and have a good time, but while we're in that Rocky Mount gym, we've got to do A-B-C."

Detrail Jenkins added 15 points and 11 rebounds for Rocky Mount, which also got 14 points from Darius McKnight and 11 from William Young.

"I told the guys I just wanted to bring my A-game in the second half, and that's what happened," said Mabry, who finished his high school career with 2,411 points, easily surpassing the old school record of 2,093 set by University of North Carolina legend Phil Ford.

Concord (25-7), which won the title in 2007, was in its third state final in five years. Jacquise Moore paced Concord with 28 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Jalen Cannady with 17 points and Griffin Templeton with 14.

Rocky Mount took the lead for good at 49-46 on a McKnight 3-pointer with 4:03 to go. The Gryphons' biggest lead was 12 on two occasions midway through the fourth, although the Spiders sliced it to three twice, the last at 71-68 on a Moore layup with 2:03 showing.