AHS teams move into conference play after successful tournaments

ASHEBORO — When a high school basketball team begins conference play in a league as stout as the Triad Area Athletic Conference, any type of momentum or confidence a team can muster should certainly have a positive effect. 

The boys and girls basketball teams at Asheboro High School received a positive jolt just prior to entering TAAC play earlier this week.

Both teams performed admirably at the SportsTone. net Christmas Invitational with the boys capturing their second title in the past three years, while the girls posted two impressive wins, one over a team it hadn’t beaten since 2021, in reaching the championship game of a holiday tournament for the first time since 2015.

The Blue Comets opened conference play Tuesday with a doubleheader at Southeast Guilford and will continue the league gauntlet Friday night at home against Northern Guilford. Home and away battles with Northeast Guilford, Eastern Guilford and Southern Guilford await.

Blue Comet boys win title

The boys defeated Southwestern Randolph, Chatham Charter and Randleman to capture the SportsTone.net Christmas Invitational, doing it without starting point guard Eli Johnson, who suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first round and did not play in either the semifinals or finals. Johnson is considered day to day.

In his place, Darrion Johnson took over and did quite well. Although recovering from an injury he suffered earlier this year, he gutted it out and gave the Blue Comets the necessary leadership on the floor.

“He moved better tonight,” AHS coach Brian Nance said of Johnson. “He was hurt in the Thomasville game (Dec. 9), missed the ER games and tried to play at Randleman, but had to come out. He’s been out of practice until Friday (the holiday tournament began the next day) and we hoped to play him just a few minutes, but Eli was injured. I had to have someone on the floor who could handle the ball. He’s very crafty with the ball and has a high basketball IQ.”

Johnson hit three big free throws late in the title-clinching win over the Tigers.

“I knew I had to pick it up at the point guard position, try to do what he does, fill that void he left,” Darrion Johnson said of Eli Johnson. “We tried to stick with getting the ball in the post. Normally we have a size advantage with Jewell (Barrett-Riggins) and Zac (Blackwell).”

With Eli Johnson out, the Blue Comets had just one senior on the floor, Barrett-Riggins, who earned most valuable player honors.

Nance said the team learned some positive lessons while winning the tournament.

“Losing one of our seniors who has been starting for two years and still being able to come out and be successful, these guys have seen they can have success without him,” Nance said. “And we were able to see a lot of different things and that will help us. And we gained some confidence. Because we ended the break with the loss to Randleman (on December 18), you come back and win three straight games, that should give you some confidence. 

“Now we come back, work and take each one of those 10 games one game at a time. You can’t look ahead. We are going to have a dogfight every night. This schedule doesn’t do us any favors, I can tell you that.”

The Blue Comets took a 10-4 record into the league opener earlier this week, with two of those losses being an overtime setback to High Point Central and a two-point loss to Thomasville.

If the Blue Comets are going to have a successful TAAC season, Barrett-Riggins and sophomore Nirey White are going to have to shine. Barrett-Riggins was a force in the tournament, grabbing rebounds, blocking shots and establishing a solid presence inside.

“He’s worked himself into a pretty good basketball player,” Nance said of Barrett-Riggins.

White is just a sophomore and has shown glimpses of greatness. Getting that consistency throughout the course of the game will be key.

AHS girls open eyes

The AHS girls may have fallen just short of the tourney title, but they weren’t considered a serious threat to win it all prior to the start of the tournament. They proved they certainly have the capabilities to make some noise in a very competitive TAAC. 

Eastern Guilford, which defeated AHS 51-40 and won the SportsTone.net Christmas Invitational, is 6-2, while Northern Guilford, the TAAC favorite, is 9-4. Southeast Guilford is 5-6, but its losses have come to powerful NG, Southwest Guilford and Davie County. 

Like the boys, Wes Luther’s AHS girls team will be in a fight each and every conference contest.

“I think for us, it’s a momentum builder,” Luther said of the positive showing in the holiday event. “We’ve got some things we have to work on, but we gained a lot of confidence. Our girls were in an unfamiliar place.”

The AHS girls program has been in a lull of late, winning 19 games total in the last four seasons. AHS is 9-5 this year under the guidance of Luther and assistant coaches Kelly Smith and Calvin Brown.

“I give all the credit to the girls,” Luther said of the turnaround. “Without those girls buying in and without those girls working hard, we wouldn’t be where we are today. I can’t say enough about the work ethic, the standards they set and how hard they dug into this.

“Not only are they believing what we are teaching — I have a great staff in Kelly and Calvin and Nance helps us out — I’m surrounded by people with lots of experience. The girls are hungry to get coached.”

The Blue Comets cruised by Jordan-Matthews after a slow first quarter, winning 54-15. AHS trailed 8-4 early, but went on a 39-2 run to grab a 43-10 lead just prior to the end of the third quarter. 

In the semifinals, they rallied from seven points down in the final 22 seconds to force overtime and then went on to top Southwestern Randolph 58-51. 

In the finals, AHS was in the game until the Wildcats pulled away in the final two minutes.

“This tournament, making it to the championship game, they were like, ‘we can do it, we can compete at this level, we can beat Southwest,’ ” Luther said. “These are things that can catapult us and keep us going in the right direction.”

The Blue Comets are going to have to show steady improvement in the turnover department throughout the conference season and sophomore Maliyah Brady must be able to compliment the strong efforts of Adalynn Scherer, Kailey Brown and Laneane Scherer. Katie Jones, Mackenzie Cass and Tiphaine Amberny are going to have to provide solid minutes every game.

“I’m shooting for the moon,” Luther said of the league season. “Why not?”