Farmville Central runs past Goldsboro, returns to state championship game
Death, taxes, Farmville Central basketball in the state title game.
Some things are just guaranteed..
- Box Score: Farmville Central 74, Goldsboro 54
- Schedule for NCHSAA basketball championship week
- Interactive basketball playoff brackets
The Jaguars are in the NCHSAA basketball title game for the 11th time in school history, and the sixth time since 2016. Farmville Central, the No. 1 2A seed out of the east, got there with a dominating 74-54 win over (2) Goldsboro.
The Cougars, who rolled into Winston-Salem on an eight-game win streak, were blitzed by the Jaguars in the second quarter. Goldsboro (27-4) would never recover.
Farmville Central (30-1) looks to capture their fourth state title in the last five seasons and second in a row on Saturday. It’s their sixth straight trip to the title game and seventh since 2016 and their 23 straight win. They got back to the finals, where they will face Reidsville or Salisbury, by flipping a switch and attacking Goldsboro on both ends.
The Jaguars forced 26 turnovers and were never phased by an early 10-0 Cougars’ lead. In the second quarter Goldsboro had 21 offensive possessions, 10 of those ended with a turnover.
Farmville Central would score 24 points off the 26 turnovers by the Cougars.
Farmville Central outscored Goldsboro 25-4 in the second quarter, building an impressive 35-16 lead. At one point the Jaguars raced out to a 24-2 run, forcing nine turnovers by the Cougars in the second quarter. Goldsboro finished the first half with 17 turnovers.
The Cougars started the game about as flashy as possible, scoring on a dunk from Amari Latham to start the game. Goldsboro rode the momentum of that highlight play to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.
Farmville Central’s first point came at the 3:05 mark, a pair of Hampton Evans free throws. It was Evans who brought the Jaguars back to life, scoring six of the first nine points for Farmville Central. The Jaguars managed to cut the lead to two (12-10) to end the first quarter. Farmville Central took its first lead on the first play of the second quarter, a three-pointer from Tyler Whitehurt, and never looked back. The Jaguars shot 42 percent from three in the second quarter (3-7) getting one more made three than total made field goals from the Cougars in that same period.
After a Malik Cadet layup tied the game at 14, Goldsboro had 10 consecutive empty possessions. During that drought for the Cougars, Farmville Central made it rain.
Whitehurst and Mykal Williams were connecting from three and when they weren’t hitting, Evans and company were cleaning up their misses on the offensive glass. Evans had as many offensive rebounds in the first half (3) as the entire Goldsboro team.
By the five minute mark of the fourth it looked like the fans in Lawrence Joel had seen it all. Chris Rhodes connected on a rare four-point play, making the score 60-36, just to show that they hadn’t.
Farmville Central had four players in double figures, led by 13 from Whitehurt, who finished 3-for-8 from three. J.D. Daniels finished with 12, Jordan Jones had 11 and Williams had 10.
Latham led all scorers with 22 points to go along with 10 rebounds, shooting 9-for-16 from the field. He was the lone Goldsboro player in double figures. Andre Williams added seven, while Maurice Tyler finished with six.
Box Score: Farmville Central 74, Goldsboro 54
Farmville Central: Tyler Whitehurst 13, J.D. Daniels 12, Jordan Jones 11, Mykal Williams 10, Chris Rhodes 9, Hampton Evans 8, Alex Moye 6, Landen Barnes 4, Jocquez Dixon 1.
Goldsboro: Amari Lathan 22 (10 rebounds), Andre Williams 7, Maurice Tyler 6, Nyrese Williams 4, Jae'Quan Green 3, Malik Cadet 3, Xavier White 3, Devin Bishop 3, Keshawn Kenner 3.
