WINSTON-SALEM – You have to give the Central Cabarrus boys basketball team credit. The Vikings do not discriminate.
They’ve beaten the pants off teams all season lon,g and they wouldn’t use the 3A state championship game Friday as an excuse to perform any differently.
Meeting Fayetteville Seventy-First at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Wake Forest University, Central Cabarrus – undeterred by the opponent’s disruptive early timeout – duly notified the Falcons of their impending fate by scoring the game’s first 10 points.
Extending their lead at each of the game’s first two quarter breaks, the Vikings rolled to a 90-62 victory, securing their second straight state title and cementing their legacy in the annals of Cabarrus County high school basketball history.
Central Cabarrus (33-0 overall) duplicated their undefeated season of a year ago to stretch the program’s winning streak to 65 games. Counting its single-blemish mark from the 2021-22 season in which they lost in the state semifinals, the Vikings’ record over the last three years is 95-1.
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Central Cabarrus is the second Cabarrus County public schools team to win back-to-back state championships (Cox Mill, 2017-18) and the first program to compile three titles overall. The first came in 2000.
“This is just amazing,” said guard Carson Daniel, one of the team’s five senior starters. “We do what a lot of teams can’t do. I think we’re a unique style of basketball. I think we really put on for Cabarrus County. Honestly, our goal right now is to put on for our hometown, to represent and make them feel good about themselves.”
Highlighted by DJ Kent’s breakaway, one-handed tomahawk dunk late in the second quarter, Central Cabarrus provided its well-traveled fans with plenty cheer for.
The vivacious Viking supporters erupted most enthusiastically with two minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the game when Seventy-First coach and former East Meck star Jeremy Ingram called a timeout to empty his bench. Central Cabarrus coach Jim Baker did the same, and the moment provided an exclamation point that the game’s outcome, though foregone for a couple of quarters, was irreversible.
Kent, the wiry 6-foot-5 170-pound guard/forward, who turns limelight into highlight, was named the state championship game’s Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row.
Last year, Kent came off the bench to earn the honor. This year, his leadership in Central Cabarrus’ bookend 10-point runs to open and close the first half is what stood out.
Kent scored buckets that sandwiched the Falcons’ first quarter timeout that gave the Vikings their early 10-0 lead. And when Seventy-First narrowed its deficit to 40-24 with two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the second quarter, Kent’s seven points keyed another double-digit run that took Central Cabarrus to halftime.
Kent finished with 20 points on nine-of-13 shooting from the field and had a game-high nine rebounds.
In addition to there being a game MVP, a Most Outstanding Player is named for each team. Central Cabarrus’ MOP was Josh Dalton, the senior transfer from Virginia who was a newcomer to this year’s team.
Standing 6-9, Dalton provided a sizeable commodity that last year’s team did not have. He admits his transition to the Central Cabarrus’ style of play was slow but that he grew into an invaluable role.
Dalton didn’t start playing high school basketball until his sophomore year. Due to a series of circumstances, he never settled in with one particular school’s program, so the run playing with Central Cabarrus provided him this year was a unique experience.
“This is my first playoffs, for real,” said Dalton, hinting at his appreciation of the opportunity. “This was really exciting for me to win this with the guys. It was really exciting … I loved it.”
Dalton led all scorers with 22 points, including the game’s first two baskets, and added four rebounds. He displayed his versatility with a 3-pointer in the first quarter and easy buckets underneath often resulting from nifty passes from Carson Daniel and Chase Daniel.
As four-year starters, the Danieles have been the face of the Central Cabarrus program during this most celebrated era. As twins, their faces are quite similar. And so is their calm, confident style of play.
Baker, the former college coach whose first Central Cabarrus teams were far from being state championship-caliber, is appreciative of the impact the Danieles have had on the program.
“When the two twins came in, this thing just flipped,” said Baker, whose first season with Central Cabarrus was 2017-18. “The culture flipped. I didn’t have to beg anyone to come into the gym … This has been so rewarding for me.”
Last year, when Central Cabarrus faced Pittsboro Northwood in the state championship, the Vikings trailed early and had to feel their way through a 65-51victory. That team wasn’t a clear favorite to win like this year’s was.
But it would explain why Central Cabarrus jumped on Seventy-First early in Friday’s championship game and allowed little doubt about its outcome, just like it had all season long, when the Vikings overall scored twice as many points as their opponents.
“Last year was almost like a shock,” said Chase Daniels. “I was even wondering if we could play at that level. Once we settled in, we were fine. This year, we had been there, and we had that confidence for what to do … One of my coaches told me, 'Great teams know how to win in multiple ways.'”
For Central Cabarrus, winning has come in multiple ways. And multiple times.