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BY JAY SPIVEY 

The West Forsyth boys basketball team won the Central Piedmont 4-A championship this past Friday night, and the West Forsyth girls were defeated by Mount Tabor to finish the regular season.  

Jacari Brim scored 25 points as the West Forsyth boys raced past Mount Tabor 58-41 at jam-packed Spartan Gymnasium to win the conference championship. 

“He’s been playing like that all year,” Coach Marlon Brim said about his son. “And to me he’s the conference player of the year. He should be back-to-back. But he set the tone for our guys and that’s what he does for us. He sets the tone and then they follow his lead.”

West Forsyth finished the regular season 22-2 overall and 13-1 in the conference. Mount Tabor finished runner-up at 19-5 overall and 11-3 in the conference. 

“When I came three years ago that was one of the things we talked about,” said Marlon Brim. “As sophomores to juniors, juniors to seniors, it’s the conference championship because at the end of the day they can’t take that away from you. And we’ve got a chance to go deep into the playoffs. We’ve just got to keep playing West Forsyth basketball.” 

West Forsyth has defeated Mount Tabor two straight times this season after Mount Tabor defeated West Forsyth 71-51 in the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic before Christmas, picking up its 14th straight win against West Forsyth since 2017. 

However, West Forsyth defeated Mount Tabor 53-38 on Jan. 17 in Clemmons and won by 18 Friday night to win the conference championship. 

“Our defense is always what is going to carry us,” Marlon Brim said. “And when we play defense like that, we’re really good. So, the guys stood up and took the challenge. They knew after the game Tuesday that (it’s) all about Mount Tabor Wednesday, Thursday.” 

West Forsyth led 14-6 after the first quarter and 32-16 at halftime.  

“I felt good, but I wasn’t sure because our guys hadn’t been in a situation like this,” Marlon Brim said. “So, for me, I’ve been in that situation, but these kids haven’t.” 

The Titans led 40-25 after Kamauri Manuel made two free throws with 2:48 left in the third quarter, but Will Koonin of the Spartans made three straight 3-pointers as part of a 9-2 run to trim the lead to 42-34 with 43.5 seconds left in the third quarter. 

However, Jordan Tate of the Titans made two free throws with 36.8 seconds remaining to push the lead to 44-34, where it remained until the end of the third quarter. 

Manuel finished with 17 points and Tate chipped in 10. 

“They cut it to eight.” Marlon Brim said. “We got two free throws to put it back up to 10. So, at the end of the day we were able to handle their run.” 

Koonin finished with 19 points to lead the Spartans. 

“We dropped coverage and we shouldn’t have dropped coverage,” Marlon Brim said. “That’s not what we’ve been doing. The first three quarters he didn’t get a clean look. So, I was upset because he got those looks. And they adjusted to that.” 

Although Mount Tabor outscored West Forsyth 18-12 in the third quarter, Jacari Brim hit a jumper, he added a layup, and Manuel had a layup to help extend the lead to 50-34 with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter.  

With about 4 minutes left West Forsyth pulled the ball out and forced Mount Tabor to foul. West Forsyth finished 21 of 22 from the free-throw line. 

“I think with two minutes to go and we’re up 16, it’s going to be hard to come back on us because our defense is so good. But also, we’ve got three ballhandlers who can really handle the ball. And that puts a lot of pressure on the defense when you can’t get turnovers. That gives all the momentum.”

The West Forsyth boys had already clinched a share of the conference title by defeating East Forsyth at home last Tuesday, but went to Mount Tabor with a chance of winning the conference outright.  

West Forsyth left little doubt after throttling East Forsyth 68-44. 

“We looked at Tuesday as the biggest game because you’ve got to win that game to get to the Friday game,” Marlon Brim said. “So, going up to Tuesday we knew that was our biggest game.” 

Jacari Brim scored 22 points and Jordan Tate added 12 to help West Forsyth defeat East Forsyth last Tuesday at Simpson Gymnasium. 

“I thought we came out with some momentum,” Marlon Brim said of the East Forsyth game. “Our seniors came out big for us and they set the tone for us for the whole game against East.” 

Jai Richburg led the Eagles (14-5, 10-4) with 13 points.  

The Central Piedmont 4-A tournament is scheduled to begin Monday with the higher seeds playing at home, and the semifinals and championship will be played at Reagan.

West Forsyth will play host to eighth-seeded Glenn (5-19, 0-14) Monday night. The winner of that game will play the winner of Monday’s game between No. 5 Reagan (12-12, 6-8) at No. 4 Davie County (16-7, 9-5), occuring at 5:30 on Tuesday at Reagan. 

“It’s Glenn,” Marlon Brim said. “We go to the next opponent. We’ve got to get ready for them. And then, we’ll be ready.”

The other games Monday night are No. 6 Reynolds (7-17, 4-10) at No. 3 East Forsyth and No. 7 Parkland (7-16, 3-11) at Mount Tabor. Those two winners will play at 8:30 on Tuesday in the other semifinal at Reagan. 

Because of snow and ice in the forecast for Wednesday, the conference elected to play both boys semifinals and both girls semifinals Tuesday at Reagan, with the championship tentatively scheduled for Friday at Reagan. The girls championship is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and the boys championship is slated for 7:30. 

“We can’t change that because at the end of the day we can’t control the weather. We can only control what we can control,” Marlon Brim said. “And that’s what we talk about. So, Monday we’ll be ready to play. Tuesday, we’ll be ready to play. We’ll be ready the last game.” 

The West Forsyth girls, much like the rest of the season, had a roller-coaster week to close the regular season.  

They defeated East Forsyth on senior night last Tuesday, but they were upended by Mount Tabor Friday night to finish the regular season 12-12 overall and 6-8 in the Central Piedmont 4-A. 

Laila Jones had 16 points and Isa Gil finished with 10 to help West Forsyth defeat East Forsyth 47-36 at Simpson Gymnasium. 

“We did a pretty good job defending them,” Coach Johnathan Gainey said. “We knew we wanted to make them take jump shots. We changed our defensive intensity a little bit. They’re a good team and we just tried to make it as tough as possible.” 

West Forsyth led East Forsyth 26-15 at halftime. 

“We had played a 1-2-2 zone and we decided to change it a little bit to the 2-3 zone,” Gainey said. “That way we keep Laila close to the basket. She did a wonderful job in the post. She didn’t have to worry about covering the corners in our 1-2-2.

“So, we were able to stay in the paint and contest shots and rebound. I think she finished with 14, 15 rebounds. So, that helped us out a lot.” 

Rajanee Bethea led the Eagles (16-5, 11-3) with 15 points and Mya Booth added 11. 

Friday night at Mount Tabor, West Forsyth led after the third quarter, but Mount Tabor took the lead in the fourth quarter to win 55-51. 

The Spartans (9-14, 8-6) outscored the Titans 15-10 in the fourth quarter.  

“I wish we would’ve scored earlier off some turnovers,” Gainey said. “We were able to create. We kind of came up empty off a few turnovers. We got to the free-throw line early, and then we had opportunities to extend the lead and we missed free throws. 

“So, those are the things in these close-game situations. You don’t want to leave anything up to the referees. And I give my hat off to Mount Tabor.” 

Shaymiah Bailey led the Spartans with 23 points. Staples and Brooklynn King led the Titans with 18 points apiece.  

“I think the difference honestly was Shaymiah,” Gainey said. “She’s a load. She was able to play physical on both ends. She only had two fouls, and as long as she’s on the floor, Mount Tabor, especially in our conference, is going to have the opportunity to beat you.” 

The West Forsyth girls finished sixth in the conference and will travel Monday night to play third-seeded Reagan (15-9, 9-5). The winner of that game will play the winner of Monday’s game between No. 7 Reynolds (5-17, 3-11) at No. 2 East Forsyth in Tuesday’s semifinals at Reagan. 

In Monday’s other first-round games, No. 8 Glenn (0-20, 0-14) will travel to top-seeded Davie County (17-6, 12-2) and No. 5 Parkland (15-9, 7-7) will play at No. 4 Mount Tabor. Those winners will also play in Tuesday’s other semifinal at Reagan. 

“There is a thin line in this conference,” Gainey said. “You know, if we had won (Friday night) we would be fourth playing home. We lose (Friday night) we drop to sixth and we’re on the road at the team that’s hosting the conference tournament, as well as the team that’s beat us twice.”