South Lenoir, Greene Central apologize to each other for Friday's actions

There is no bad blood between the basketball teams of South Lenoir and Greene Central.

The teams met Monday near Skinner’s Bypass to shake hands and apologize after Friday’s game in Deep Run. After the final whistle blew in the Rams’ come-from-behind 56-48 victory, a scuffle broke out between the teams and prevented customary postgame pleasantries.

Greene Central coach Blue Edwards said both coaching staffs, principals and athletic directors put their heads together in order to find a way to have the teams come together. As a result, the Rams and Blue Devils rode on team buses, meeting next to Bojangles for the first time since the incident to finish the episode in a proper manner.

“We thought it was a good idea to hash out the correct narrative,” Edwards said. “There was a lot of stuff that was said on social media that was fake news. People wanted to do the right thing and it was unfortunate that a well-coached, well-played game will be remembered for the chaos afterwards. We decided that we should do what should’ve been done then, congratulate each other to show ultimate sportsmanship and move on.”

South Lenoir coach Jeremy Barnett shared similar sentiments.

“We had such a great game marred due to those circumstances,” Barnett said. “We wanted to make sure the adults in the room were adults and decided this is the way it should be. Now, some 72 hours later, we’re able to get it done. At the end of the day, we wanted the kids to understand that we may disagree, but we can come together and apologize for our actions.”

The next meeting between the teams will be Feb. 8 in Snow Hill.