We certainly found out a lot about our area teams as they competed against some top-notch competition at various tournaments.

Winter break is coming to a close for our area schools, so it's time to blow the dust off the ol' TCN rankings and see how each team did over break.

We don't have any games listed for Apex, so we're assuming the undefeated record is still intact. If that's the case, then who said idleness is a bad thing? Cary Christian lost two games at the Johnson-Lambe Tournament by a combined five points, meaning Apex will leapfrog them this week.

Also losing two games over break is Athens Drive, who faced stiff tests from Wake-Forest Rolesville and SE Raleigh.

It wasn't fair to move anybody else up or down, but we should note that Cary Academy is poised to vault up the standings if they can continue their outstanding play. After finally defeating Cary Christian (first time out of three games this year), the Chargers came within seconds of defeating Southern Durham (losing in OT) and easily won a match-up with Fuquay-Varina.

Is it possible to win both your games and still move down in the rankings? Absolutely - just ask Middle Creek, which is now No. 3 on our TCN rankings.

There were some movers and shakers from last week's TCN rankings, but the top stays the same for now.

It's all here in the TCN girls' basketball rankings.

The Cary News men's basketball rankings - 12/14/08

Just one week remains until basketball is put into hibernation for Christmas and Holiday Tournaments, and here's what we know so far:

Panther Creek and Middle Creek (and for that matter, Earnest Ross and Garrius Adams) are good. Scary good.

Athens Drive and Cary Academy are much better than anticipated.

Apex is just as steady than ever.

Everybody else isn't bad, but they all are certainly struggling to put it all together.

Panther Creek or Middle Creek? Both teams are good enough to play for a state title like Apex did last year, so which to take at the top of our area rankings?

The Cary News girls' basketball rankings - 12/14/08

For all the talk that the boys' are getting for how good their teams are, keep in mind girls' basketball in this area isn't lacking either.

The Holly Springs football team held their 3^rd Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday. Head coach Jim Hynus and his staff awarded the following to his team:

2008 MVP - Dan Collins (senior)

2008 Most Improved - Xavier Bailey (junior)

2008 Golden Hawks Award - Kevin Groves (senior)

Also announced were the following awards given by the Greater Neuse Conference:

Co-Defensive Greater Neuse Conference Player of the Year - Dan Collins

First Team All-Conference - Dan Collins, Xavier Bailey, and J.J. Graves (junior) 

All-Conference Honorable Mention - Mark Collins and Alex Dolan (senior) 

All-Conference Sportmanship Honorable Mention - Kevin Groves

Varsity Academic All Conference - Kent Burnette, Dan Collins, Taylor Gartland, Marcos Goldstein, KJ Herndon, Michael Humphrey, Sean Lucius, Ethan Nunn, Torrance Porter, Mike Roach, Frank Price, Mike Schlegelmilch, Nolan Volk and Harrison Walker

The Golden Hawks (2-9, 1-6) also handed out varsity letters. Only 19 letter-winners will be coming back next year, when Holly Springs moves into the Tri-Eight (soon to be Tri-Nine) Conference.

HOLLY SPRINGS--It didn't take long for Panther Creek to flex its collective muscle against Holly Springs, using a 16-4 run to close the first quarter and a 16-0 run to end the first half. The Catamounts didn't look back either, cruising to a 78-45.

Panther Creek's  Earnest Ross, who has signed to play with the Auburn Tigers next year, had a 9-0 run by himself in the middle of the first quarter's scoring frenzy.

Ross finished with 29 points on the night, including 3-for-3 on his free throws, four 3-pointers and one emphatic, baseline slam over a Golden Hawks defender.

"He was on tonight," PC coach L.J. Hepp said. 

At the half, the score was 41-12 Panther Creek, as Holly Springs was baited into turnover after turnover. Some coming in the half-court, others due to full-court pressure.

Super sub T.J. Fitzmaurice had three first-half steals and Ross added quite a few himself.

"At the top of our keys to the game, every game it's create turnovers," Hepp said. "We've had these guys for three years now and they've bought into that."

Also standing out was the post play of Panther Creek. In order to win a conference or state championship, Hepp knows his team has to have others raise their level of play so teams can't key in on Ross.

Forwards Marques Oliver and Aaron Toney combined for 20 points and were dominant on the boards and defending the paint.

"We need guys to play good for us," Hepp said. "Not many teams have two 6'6 guys who can score."

The Golden Hawks had few bright moments, but sophomore center Quentin Underwood did dunk over Oliver for Holly Springs' first bucket. He finished with eight points,and Terrence Walker had a team-high with nine.

The lowlight of the night on either side was the scary knee injury to Holly Springs' B.J. Gaskins.

Gaskins went up for a contested lay-up in transition and landed awkwardly with one knee behind the other as the ball bounced off the rim. Underwood tried to follow-up the miss and was knocked on top of Haskins' legs, causing injury. 

Haskins stayed on the ground after Panther Creek got the ball, causing the game to be stopped. His blood-curdling scream made the crowd go from whisper to silent. Although he put no weight on his knee as he was helped off the court, coach Thurman Jordan was sure it was not as serious as it all looked.

"It's just a bruise," Jordan said. "He's had some problems with his knee in the past and I think this one just scared him."

As if getting your name in the paper and getting to play in college wasn't enough, here's the list of LOI signings for the early signing period.

We couldn't fit anything in the paper last week about the first two rounds of the 4-A Men's Soccer Tournament, so the SWakeSports blog looks as good as any. Here's how our teams fared.

Those no longer playing: 

Panther Creek - the Catamounts came from out of nowhere this year to becoming Tri-Eight champions. It speaks volumes to what type of program coach Todd Schuler is building when his team was disappointed with a second-round exit at the hands of Millbrook this past Saturday. Panther Creek ended the year 16-6-2. 

 Holly Springs - the Golden Hawks saw their year end to Panther Creek in the first round by a score of 5-0. Holly Springs posted a final record of 9-10.

 Athens Drive - the Jaguars had the unenviable task of opening the playoffs at Broughton, the two-time defending state champion. They lost that game 2-1 to end the year 14-8.

Those still in it:

Apex- the Cougars (15-4-2) should be renamed road warriors after going to Clayton and ripping the Comets 4-0 and following that up by going to Durham and handing Jordan High School just its third loss of the year by a score of 1-0. Tonight at 6 p.m. the Cougars will face...

...Green Hope-  this assures us at least one SWake team will be playing on Saturday with a chance to advance to the East Regional Final. Green Hope did the unthinkable, defeating the odds-on favorite to win the state title, Broughton by a 1-0 score in the second round. The Falcons (17-3-2) also annihilated Garner 6-0 in the first round.

 I'll be at this game tonight, writing the story for the N&O. I'll post the final score on the sports page with a brief description of what happened. The full story should be up whenever you wake up the next morning and when it gets posted on the N&O's site as well.