FAYETTEVILLE — No. 14-seeded Northside will square off against the No. 1 overall seed and defending Coastal Plains Conference champion, East Carteret, today at 4 p.m. in the Crown Arena with a spot in the NCHSAA 1-A state championship up for grabs.

The Panthers (21-4, 8-4 CPC) are coming off an improbable 66-62 win over the No. 2-seeded Voyager Academy yesterday and are the highest seed left in any of the four NCHSAA men’s basketball brackets. Junior Edrice “Bam” Adebayo is averaging about 40 points and 25 boards in Northside’s four playoff games.

East Carteret (26-2, 12-0 CPC) defeated the No. 4 seed, Weldon, 78-62, yesterday in the game following Northside’s. Head coach Billy Anderson and the Mariners are looking to return to the 1-A state championship for the second time in as many years and are currently on a 19-game win streak.

In conference play, the Mariners defeated the Panthers twice — the first being an 84-61 win in Pinetown that was competitive up until the fourth quarter; the second being the opposite, a 106-69 annihilation of the Panthers in Beaufort.

No. 1-seeded Albemarle will face the defending state champions and No. 7 seed, Winston-Salem Prep, at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds at 2 p.m. Winston-Salem Prep defeated East Carteret in the championship game last year, 72-71.

For more on the game, pick up the Tuesday edition of the Washington Daily News or visit www.thewashingtondailynews.com for the most up-to-date coverage. Also, you can follow sports editor David Cucchiara on Twitter @cucch22 for live play-by-play coverage.