Farmville Central's sizzling start too much for Greene Central in Eastern Regionals
Greene Central’s Imajae Dodd dribbles past Farmville Central’s Dyquavis Wilkins in Saturday’s Eastern Regional Finals. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News
GREENVILLE — Greene Central hoped the fourth time would be the charm, but Farmville Central had other ideas.
The Jaguars pounced on the Rams 78-59 Saturday in the NCHSAA 2A Eastern Regional finals. Farmville Central (31-0) defeated Greene Central three times this season — the last matchup a 77-71 overtime win on Dec. 28 — but left no doubt in its quest for its first state championship since 2016.
“I thought we came out (well) defensively — we’ve hit another gear (on that end) in the last month, month and a half Farmville Central coach Larry Williford said. “Tonight, (our backcourt) and a lot of other guys were spectacular (and) early on we got some great contributions from our bench.”
Justin Wright and Samage Teel connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to start the game for Farmville Central. B.J. Corbitt put Greene Central (23-8) on the board with a drive, but the Jaguars ended the first quarter on a 19-2 run, punctuated by a Terquavion Smith slam.
Greene Central started the game 1-14 and while Imajae Dodd scored 13 first-half points for the Rams, including three slams, the Jaguars took a 49-20 lead into the break.
Farmville Central went up by as many as 35 midway through the third after a slam from Leontae Moye. The Rams cut into the deficit, but couldn’t get closer than 17 and Moye punctuated the win with a windmill dunk at the buzzer.
Greene Central was in its third straight Regional Finals trying to make it back to the championship game. Although the Rams fell short, coach Blue Edwards said it was a strong 2018-19 campaign.
“I’m extremely proud of my basketball team because of the type of season we had,” Edwards said. “We’ve had some ups and downs, but I think that we came together at the right time. Once the state playoffs started, this was the type of basketball I had envisioned — we were playing as a collective unit on both ends of the court. Unfortunately, we met a team tonight that was a little bit better than us. I tip my hat to Farmville Central and I told my guys we don’t have to hang our heads. We gave the best effort that we had.”
In his final game for the Rams, Dodd had 23 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks.
FARMVILLE CENTRAL 78, GREENE CENTRAL 59
GC 4 16 21 18 — 59
FC 25 24 14 15 — 78
GREENE CENTRAL — Imajae Dodd 23, Kentrell Suggs 15, Johnson 8, Hudson 5, Corbitt 3, Gay 3, Pridgen 2
FARMVILLE CENTRAL — Justin Wright 24, Terquavion Smith 14, Samage Teel 14, Dyquavis Wilkins 11, Moye 7, Owens 4, Harper 4
Three-pointers: GC — Hudson, Suggs, Gay. FC — Wright 3, Teel 3, Smith 2.
