King and Carter combine to carry Cardinal Newman to 71-61 victory over Augusta Christian
Cardinals win AAAA boys basketball title, snapping ACS' 2-year championship reign
Sumter – Evan Carter and Amarii King had a heart-to-heart conversation during halftime of Cardinal Newman’s game against Augusta Christian School for the SCISA AAAA boys basketball title on Friday.
The Cardinals were leading the 2-time defending state champion by a 33-28 score, and the duo was just discussing what it needed to do to take control of the game. Nothing confrontational at all.
“We just tried to lock in,” Carter said. “Amarii, he encouraged me and I encouraged him. We were like brothers. We talked it out.”
They talked the talk and walked the walk in the third quarter, scoring 11 points apiece to help CN opening a 15-point advantage. It then held off a late charge from the Lions for a 71-61 victory at Sumter Civic Center.
The title is the 10th in school history for Cardinal Newman, its first since winning the 2020 AAA championship. The Cardinals avenged their loss to Augusta Christian in last year’s first ever AAAA title game.
“It feels good to get it back,” said CN head coach Philip Deter. “There ain't no doubt our seniors deserve it, our kids deserve it. The school has supported us all year, so they deserve it. It definitely feels good to be back on top.”
The Lions’ Khaleel Pratt scored on a layup at the 7:29 mark of the third quarter to make it 33-30. That’s when King and Carter went to work.
King, a junior who transferred from Keenan, drained back-to-back 3-point shots to make it 39-30. After ACS’ Andrew Bell hit three free throws to make it 39-33, it was Carter’s turn. He scored seven straight points in little over a minute, finishing with a trey to make it 46-33 with 4:11 left.
Carter said he and King had put together an offensive run like this before, but it was earlier in the season.
“This game was important, we knew what was at stake,” said Carter, who is a senior. “I'm glad me and him got together,”
Cardinal Newman took its biggest lead of the game at 55-40 with 2:56 left in the quarter on a jumper by Manny Davis, the only points in the quarter from a Cardinal not named Carter or King. That capped off a 17-5 run.
Deter said he told King and Carter to have confidence in their abilities at halftime.
“I think it was just have confidence, find matchups we want and go,” said Deter, whose team finished with a 19-13 record. “We hit some tough shots early to get some confidence. You get the matchup you want and you go to the rim, and that's definitely what Evan did. Amari's been doing that all season, so it's nothing new to us.”
Augusta Christian head coach Brandon Dotson said the Cardinals simply were on offensively in the third quarter.
“They shot very well,” said Dotson, whose team finished with a 22-8 record. “They haven't shot that well the entire playoffs. They got hot at the right time. They made shots.”
Augusta Christian didn’t give up the title easily. Trailing 55-41 entering the fourth quarter, the Lions scored 13 of the first 17 points in the quarter. A basket by Bell made it 59-53 with 4:52 left in the game.
Two free throws from CN’s Luis Echevarria pushed the lead back to eight. A 3-point play by Braylen Smith and a jumper from the top of the key by Pratt made it 61-58 with 3:28 to go.
That was as close as the Lions would get. They went scoreless for over two minutes while Echeverria hit two free throws and Josiah Peeples hit a layup for Cardinal Newman.
“We changed up our lineup a little bit, went small ball, got a little quicker,” Dotson said. “We got a lot better and we were able to get back in the game.
“I want to tip my hat to Cardinal Newman. They did a great job. If we had to play again I'd like us, but they did a good job. They made shots and we didn't.”
Deter said he wasn’t surprised by the run ACS made in the fourth quarter.
They’re a good team,” Deter said. “They’d won two straight state titles, and they’re well-coached. I knew it was coming. They started hitting shots.”
King led Cardinal Newman with 25 points, while Carter had 23. Echevarria finished with 12 and Peeples had seven.
Pratt, who has signed to play baseball with Kentucky, led ACS with 23 points. Smith added 14, while Aamere Tolbert had 10 and Bell had six.
King and Carter made the all-tournament team for Cardinal Newman, while Pratt and Troy Booker made it for Augusta Christian. Joining them on the team were Mike Tyler of Hammond and Kamauri Hunter of Heathwood Hall.
The Cardinals won 12 of their final 14 games to pull off the state championship after going through early struggles within the team as well as playing a difficult schedule.
“We like to play tough competition to see where we’re at, we do that every year,” Deter said. “We try to play well and play hard and get better. All that matters is how you play the last game and we did it.”
“I'm just glad I'm able to do it with this group of people,” Carter said. “It's a blessing.”
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