In a game full of big plays and great intensity, it was a crucial technical foul call against North Meck senior forward Josh Stepoli that might have been the only blow the Vikings couldn't overcome in a 53-50 West Charlotte victory in I-Meck basketball action on Tuesday.
The most interesting thing about it was that nobody in the gym was blaming Stepoli, who, at least on Tuesday, was the best player on a court brimming with major hoops talent.
With 4:44 left in the game, Stepoli tipped a short jump shot by 6-foot-9 West Charlotte junior Jakeem Yates and controlled the ball well enough to bounce it down onto the court as a referee's whistle sounded. The play resulted in the fourth personal foul for the Vikings' 6-foot-7 big man — the referees ruled that there was contact and the blocked shot was actually a foul. But the technical foul that ensued as a result of the ball's bounce was his fifth and disqualifying foul.
The Vikings trailed 46-45 at the time. Yates made 1-of-2 foul shots, and then Lions point guard Mark Blackmon made 1-of-2 technical foul shots.
"They made the call, there's not much else to say," said North coach Duane Lewis.
To that point, Stepoli more than held his own against the Lions' imposing front court players, finishing with game highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds.
West Charlotte put its defensive focus on stopping point guard Shivaughn Wiggins, who had 13 points despite being harassed the entire game by a contingent of Lions defenders, mostly Blackmon, the state's 4A cross country champion. With Stepoli fouled out, and Wiggins blanketed, the Vikings needed a third scorer to step up. Typically, that job would go to forward Rashaan Brown, but Brown did not play on Tuesday and was not in the gym. Lewis had no comment on the situation.
West Charlotte, the defending state champs, got 15 points from Blackmon and 14 from Micheal Brown, who has signed to play at Western Carolina next season. The team also got seven points from 6-foot-8 junior Kennedy Meeks, whose rebounding, shot-blocking and passing abilities are vital for the Lions.
"Kennedy is so good," Lewis said. "People get caught up in him not scoring a lot of points, but he does so many other things."
The game's outcome left the Lions at 2-0 in conference play and 4-2 overall. North Meck fell to 1-1, 7-1.
North opened I-Meck play last Friday with a 77-54 win at Lake Norman. Wiggins had a career high 33 points, including a 19-for-20 performance from the foul line as the Vikings raced to a 22-point halftime lead. Rashaan Brown added 12 points and eight rebounds.
Lady Vikings suffer two close losses
The North girls' basketball team fell to 0-2 in conference play on Tuesday, coming up just short in a 58-57 loss at home against West Charlotte. The Lady Vikings led by double figures for much of the game, but had no answer for West Charlotte center Gabrielle McClain, who scored 26 points and blocked 10 shots.
Destiny Barrino led North Meck with 23 points. Kelly Beasley added eight.
In the conference opener last Friday at Lake Norman, Beasley's 15-footer with 36 seconds left tied the game, but Lake Norman's Marissa Riley, a three-time all-conference player, scored after an offensive rebound with 24 seconds left to provide the winning points in a 39-36 decision.
Beasley led North Meck with 14 points. Riley had a game-high 16 for the Lady Wildcats.
