Garner's boys and Southeast Raleigh's girls are the Greater Neuse River 4A Conference regular-season basketball champions once again. The conference tournament begins on Monday with boys' quarterfinal games. Girls' play begins on Tuesday.

Scotty McCreery, the reigning "American Idol" from Garner, has received a double dose of good news: he now has a second gold single and he's up for a second country music award.

"The Trouble With Girls," the second single from Scotty's album, "Clear As Day," was just certified as a gold record, meaning more than 500,000 copies shipped. Scotty's first single, "I Love You This Big," also went gold. The CD has reached both gold and platinum status. A platinum album has sold at least 1 million copies.

Scotty also learned that he is a nominee for New Artist of the Year at the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

Girls Basketball
Cleveland 48, South Johnston 42
East Wake 57, West Johnston 31
Garner 51, Harnett Central 48
Southeast Raleigh 85, Smithfield-Selma 27
Wake Christian 42, Lee Christian 27

Boys Basketball
South Johnston 66, Cleveland 43
Corinth Holders 64, Louisburg 51
East Wake 63, West Johnston 51
Garner 74, Harnett Central 60
Bunn 51, North Johnston 47
Wake Christian 62, Lee Christian 52
Goldsboro 52, Princeton 51

Prep Dual Wrestling
Cleveland 55, Triton 18
West Johnston 63, Harnett Central 15

The honors just keep coming for Garner's Scotty McCreery, whose first CD has just gone platinum.

"Clear As Day," released in October, has sold more than 1 million copies.

"It means the world to me,” said Scotty, 18, who became the winner of Season 10 of "American Idol" in May. “It’s one of the highest honors you can get with your album, and it’s a huge testament to the loyalty of country music fans and how great they have been to me."

Corinth Holders Holiday Classic
Girls Consolation Game
Cleveland vs. Corinth Holders, 1:30
Boys Consolation Game
Cleveland vs. Heritage, 3:30
Girls Championship
East Wake vs. Heritage, 6
Boys Championship
East Wake vs Corinth Holders, 8
Prep Basketball: Carolina Apparel Christmas Tournament at South Johnston (Round Robin Format)
West Johnston girls vs. Wake Forest-Rolesville girls, noon
West Johnston boys vs. Wake Forest-Rolesville boys, 1:30
Smithfield-Selma girls vs. Enloe girls, 3
Smithfield-Selma boys vs. Enloe boys, 4:30
South Johnston girls vs. Louisburg girls, 6
South Johnston boys vs. Louisburg boys, 7:30
Prep Boys Basketball - American Airlines Boys Bracket at Holiday Invitational (Broughton High)
Kinston vs. Garner, 7:20

View Timber Drive Extension NC50 -> White Oak Rd in a larger map

The start of construction was delayed for a few years before work finally got going in 2010 on the Timber Drive Extension in Garner, but  the road will open 10 months ahead of schedule after a ribbon-cutting today, DOT said.

The four-lane, 1.4-mile road links N.C. 50 to White Oak Road on the east side of Garner. It will provide an alternative to U.S. 70 for traffic from White Oak Crossing to Garner and Raleigh.

Raleigh-based Fred Smith Co. won the $9.4 million contract in June 2010, with completion scheduled in October 2012. Engineers for the state Department of Transportation said months of warm, dry weather helped Smith finish the work this fall.

The ribbon-cutting is planned for 2 p.m. at the Civitan Center, 1105 Poole Drive, Garner.  When DOT and Garner officials scheduled the event several blocks from the new road, they didn't think they'd be ready to allow traffic on Timber Drive Extension today.  Now they plan to do so, at 4:30 p.m.

Updated 8:27 p.m.

WINSTON-SALEM --  Garner coach Nelson Smith kept finding somebody to give a hand to. His Trojans had just lost their final game of the 2011 season, the toughest way of all, 35-21 to Greensboro Page in the 4AA state championship game, but the veteran Garner coach just wanted to show his appreciation for their weeks of hard work.

So he applauded them, again and again as they waited for the post-game award presentations to begin.

It was one thing the Trojan players, who lost for just the second time in their last 28 games, probably didn’t really feel like they deserved after falling behind by 21 points, then giving everything they had in a too-short comeback bid. But their veteran coach knew they deserved it.

Games will be played Friday and Saturday in Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Winston-Salem.

Advance tickets for Friday night's Eastern Regional 4AA championship game at Garner between the Trojans and Fayetteville Jack Britt will go on sale today at noon in the school's main office. The advance tickets, which are $8 each, will be available at the school until 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

Tickets will also be sold at the gates as usual on Friday night. Gates to Trojan Stadium will open at 6 p.m.; kick off is at 7:30.

4-AA

Garner 41, Leesville Road 21 (FINAL): Garner's Juwan Moye and Leesville Road's Braxton Berrios both top 200 yards rushing.

Fayetteville Britt 28, Middle Creek 14 (FINAL): Britt wears down the Mustangs

Greensboro Page 40, Charlotte Butler 26 (FINAL): Two-time defending champs ousted.

Charlotte Mallard Creek 42, Charlotte Myers Park 10 (FINAL)

4A

Scotland 35, Durham Hillside 7 (FINAL): Scotland handles Hornets

New Bern 31, New Hanover 20 (FINAL): New Bern pulls away in the fourth

Mooresville 42, Sun Valley 21 (FINAL)

3AA

Wilson Hunt 31, Cardinal Gibbons 17 (FINAL): Unbeaten Hunt handles Crusaders

Northern Guilford 35, Fayetteville Byrd 6 (FINAL)

Charlotte Catholic 45, Kannapolis Brown 7 (FINAL)

3A

Cleveland 42, Burlington Williams 28 (FINAL): First-year team with no seniors reaches the semifinals

Havelock 62, Currituck 36 (FINAL)

2AA

Kinston 47, Bunn 46 (FINAL, OT): Kinston stops two-point conversion try

2A

Tarboro 28, Edenton Holmes 26 (FINAL)

South Columbus 10, East Bladen 0 (FINAL)

Lincolnton 34, Maiden 21 (FINAL)

Thomasville 27, Salisbury 16 (FINAL)

1AA

Ayden-Grifton 35, Southwest Onslow 14 (FINAL)

1A

Manteo 40, Plymouth 12 (FINAL)

Jones 22, North Edgecombe 12 (FINAL)

Albemarle 45, Lakewood 14 (FINAL)