Could two Chatham County boys basketball teams win state championships this season?
It’s certainly possible.
There are two real contenders to do so in 2022-23 — Chatham Charter and Northwood. The Knights and Chargers were a combined 57-6 last season and figure to be the top teams in Chatham County again this winter.
Chatham Charter’s motivation is simple: redemption. The Knights (33-2 in 2021-22) are trying to make up for a loss in last year’s 1A state title game, a 54-43 defeat to Hayesville. Luckily for head coach Jason Messier, he returns his entire roster this winter.
“We’re going to be getting everybody’s best shot every single night, and I think that experience being in big games is going to help us,” Messier said. “We had three juniors and two freshmen playing at Reynolds Coliseum (in the state final) for the first time ever. Really, I couldn’t tell you any of them have even been to a state championship game just to watch and be in that type of environment.”
The Knights are led by senior Adam Harvey, who led his team in points (16.3) and rebounds (7.0) last season. Chatham Charter isn’t dependent on just one player, however, as senior Aamir Mapp (11.5) and sophomores Beau Harvey (10.3) and Brennan Oldham (10.0) each averaged more than 10 points per game last season.
Charter averaged 66.1 points per game last winter, and they’ve picked up right where they left off offensively. In each of the team’s first three games this season — all wins — the Knights have scored at least 70 points.
Northwood, meanwhile, doesn’t begin its season until Saturday afternoon, but the Chargers (24-4 in 2021-22) are ready to take the next step this winter after losing in the fourth round of last year’s 3A state playoffs.
Head coach Matt Brown has a lot of talent at his disposal, but the top player for the Chargers on both ends of the court is undoubtedly junior Drake Powell. The 6-foot-6, 180-pound wing led Northwood in points (16.1) and rebounds (6.2) per game while also averaging 3.2 assists and 2.6 steals.
Powell is committed to play college basketball at UNC-Chapel Hill and is considered the No. 50 player nationally in the Class of 2024 according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. If he can improve on his 3-point shooting (24.6% in 2021-22), it might be enough to lift the Chargers past the fourth round — and possibly to a state title.
“(Drake)’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime player,” Brown said. “I’m pretty blessed to be able to coach a player like him. Not just the player, but the person … The thing is, he’s not even near his potential yet, which is pretty scary.”
Elsewhere in the county, the top team outside Charter and Northwood might be Seaforth, which is only in its second season as a varsity program. The Hawks finished the 2021-22 season at 12-10 overall — a campaign that ended with a loss to Goldsboro in the first round of the 2A playoffs.
Seaforth is led by junior Jarin Stevenson, a 6-foot-10 forward who averaged a county-high 20.6 points, 11.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game last season. Stevenson is one of the top prospects in his class, listed as the No. 13 player nationally and the No. 1 player in North Carolina according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.
The key for Seaforth will be getting contributions from its other players. Last year, only Stevenson and current junior Chris Walker (7.9) averaged more than five points per game.
The top competition for Seaforth in the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A Conference this season will be Cummings, which went undefeated in the regular season in 2021-22 before eventually winding up 22-1 overall. The Hawks lost their two meetings with the Cavaliers by an average of 27.0 points per game last winter.
Chatham Central and Jordan-Matthews are also members of the Mid-Carolina Conference. The Bears and Jets combined to go 14-29 overall last season and ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the league standings.
Jordan-Matthews was one of two Chatham County boys basketball teams not to make the playoffs last season. The other was Woods Charter, which went 5-14 overall and 4-6 in Central Tar Heel Conference play in 2021-22.
Sports Editor Jeremy Vernon can be reached at jeremy@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @jbo_vernon.