CHAPEL HILL — In what was probably just kids getting caught up in the moment, the end of the 2-A boys and 4-A girls state title games at the Dean Smith Center both saw pointless shots taken by the winning team in the closing seconds.
In both cases, the games were firmly decided with seconds remaining. But that didn’t stop players from showing off with a monster dunk and a 3-pointer.
First, Shelby’s Derrick Mayo came up with a steal near halfcourt with about 10 seconds left and a 60-50 lead over Northwood in the 2-A boys final.
Instead of just holding the ball, or taking a less gaudy shot, he tossed up the ball to his brother, Eric Mayo, who slammed the ball with 5 seconds left.
Then Shelby started to celebrate, even with a few seconds still on the clock. Eric Mayo scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds en route to being named MVP.
But if Northwood coach Russ Frazier didn’t like what he saw, he did the classy thing and kept it to himself.
“Two points is two points,” said Frazier. “It’s a shot. He made it. That’s what I thought about that and it’s just a basketball game.”
In the 4-A girls final, West Charlotte had a 75-60 lead over Hillside and starting with about 10 seconds left, everybody on the court seemed to be doing the game-is-really-over limbo — everybody but West Charlotte's Trena Moore-Smith, who fired off and hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left.
Javier Serna has covered sports for The News & Observer since 2007. He previously covered growth for the North Raleigh News, and sports at The Truth in Elkhart, Ind. E-mail 
Comments
It starts and ends with the coach
Wed, 03/18/2009 - 11:53 — shawnc1959Sportsmanship is a big problem area in high school sports. An ironic example is that at an opening season lacrosse game this spring, the announcer read a statement (I presume from NCHSAA) over the public address system before the game about how sportsmanship was just as important an element as the competition. Yet by the time the game was winding down into the final minute, one team, already ahead by double digits, still had nearly all its starters on the field and were pushing to score one last goal. Yes, I've heard all the talk about coaches not wanting to tell their bench players they can't have a chance to score when they've been subbed in late in a one-sided game, but in this case, the coach was still playing effectively the starting line-up.
When coaches don't set the example nor make sportsmanship part of what they teach, you will continue to have situations like this.