North Forsyth is too much for Ledford boys

Wed. February 15, 2012 at 11:24 p.m. | By Mike Duprez

WINSTON-SALEM | Ledford needed to win the Mid-Piedmont Conference Tournament to get into the state playoffs. That meant winning two more games and for nearly a half Wedneday night, the Panthers were right in it.

Problem was, the opponent was regular season champion North Forsyth, the seventh-ranked 3-A team in the state.

The host Vikings made a strong run near the end of the second quarter and continued it in the second half en route to a 90-72 thumping of the Panthers in the tournament semifinals at Carmichael Gym.

Ledford’s prolific guard tandem of Daniel Lawson and Nathan Parks bombed in 28 and 20 points, respectively.

But everyone on the North Forsyth roster was a threat. Forward Michael Chambers led the Vikings with 18 points, backup guard Trenard Alexander scored 14 and guard Kedrick Flomo had 11. Of the 15 players on the roster, 14 scored.

“We said at the beginning of the season we were going to play a lot of people,” said North Forsyth coach Sean Vestal. “We have 11 on varsity and we brought up four from JV and they’re good players, too. Our top nine, I’ll put them up against anybody in the state of North Carolina because they play well together. They enjoy their roles and they do good things.”

The taller Vikings attacked the rim and they hit enough jumpers. Ledford tried to counter with aggressive defense and the Panthers committed 27 fouls — two of them ruled intentional on North Forsyth breakways. North Forsyth cashed in by going 26-for-36 from the free throw line.

“We played really hard tonight,” said Ledford coach Jonathan Leonard, whose team ended the season with a 6-18 record. “The last time we played them, we played a great first half. In the third quarter, they wore us down a little bit. The same thing tonight. We had to be strong with the ball. We had to box out. They are so long and they knock the shots down. There’s little things we can do better but they are a really good team.”

The Panthers led 17-16 after the first quarter and were only down 31-28 with two minutes left in the half. But then the Vikings got a pair of second-chance buckets and Chambers drilled a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left as North Forsyth closed the half with a 9-2 run.

Then the Vikings scored the first eight points of the third quarter to blow it open. After a technical foul on Parks and a four-point play by Alexander, the Vikings had a 58-38 lead.

Ledford got the margin down to 13 late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. But then Patrick Green scored inside for the Vikings and Flomo canned a pair of free throws after an intentional foul on Lawson. The Vikings retained possession and Rayshawn Speas hit two free throws, making it 72-53 with just over five minutes remaining.

Notes: Speas blocked five shots … The Vikings’ Edward Valentine had four assists and four steals … Parks had four steals.

Mike Duprez can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 218 or mike.duprez@the-dispatch.com.