Plymouth coach Marvin Davenport likes to say it’s not how you start it’s how you finish. On Friday, his Vikings gave him a good start and an even better finish as they pieced together an 18-5 run in the fourth to push past South Creek 66-44 in the Four Rivers Conference championship game.
The top-seeded Vikings preserved their perfect season and extended their perfect record to 23-0 thanks to another splendid performance by the dynamic duo of senior Carl McCray and junior Adrian Moore as they combined for 27 points to lockup the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCHSAA 1-A state playoffs.
Moore ended the game leading all scorers with 19 points, while McCray was right behind him with 18.
The Vikings, who placed second in the state last season, were pleased to win the tournament but Davenport and his crew no doubt have their eyes on a bigger prize.
“We have a lot more basketball to play,” Davenport said. “We’ll enjoy this for a night but then it’s time to get back to work.”
Plymouth, the fourth-ranked team in the state according to MaxPreps.com, came ready to work on Friday as they stampeded No. 3 South Creek (21-6) from the start, ripping off a 12-0 run to begin the game.
The Cougars, who are ranked 15th in the state according to MaxPreps.com, didn’t buckle. Despite being down 19-7 at the end of the first quarter, South Creek battled back as forward Jaquan Durham tallied 10 second-quarter points to tie the game up at 27 going into the half.
Durham would end the game with 14 points, while Laquan Boston tallied 10.
“I told them we’ve worked too hard since November 1st to just come here and give up,” South Creek coach Darryl Pittman said. “I told them to keep fighting till the end, till that clock shows double zero.”
Fight they did, but the Cougars could not combat Plymouth in the second half. Fastbreak City returned to form as the Vikings ran the floor with savvy and outscored South Creek 39-17 in the second half and pushed the game out of reach with an 18-5 run in the fourth.
“We knew that down the stretch defense and whoever ran the floor the best would win the ball game,” Davenport said. “That’s why we put a lot of time into our conditioning.”
Thanks to a tremendous team defensive effort, the Vikings Moore and McCray ran wild over the final two quarters as South Creek, like each of Plymouth’s previous opponents, failed to figure out how to stop the run game.
“Our transition defense wasn’t there,” Pittman said. “They got a lot of easy baskets. We missed and then they would sprint out on us. That’s they’re bread and butter.”

South Creek    7    20    12    5    —    44
Plymouth    19    8    21    18    —    66
Cougars (44)
Laquan Boston 13, Jaquan Durham 14, Williams 7, Farmer 8, Biggs 2.
Vikings (66)
Sheppard 1, Kendrick Pitt 14, Carl McCray 18, Adrian Moore 19, Holloway 6, Spruill 6.