Phenom game report: Farmville Central vs. Hertford County
By Johnathan Kirkland
The NCHSAA high school basketball tournament kicked off on Tuesday night, and the 2A reigning state champions Farmville Central were in action against Hertford County. Farmville is the nine seed in the east bracket and Hertford County is the eight seed. Both teams entered Tuesday night with perfect regular season record of 10-0.
Farmville Central showed why they are one of the favorites in 2A with an 87-59 trouncing of Hertford County. Hertford hung with Farmville throughout the first half, trailing 20-15 after one and 39-31 at halftime. Farmville began to separate themselves in the second half with a 13 point lead heading into the final quarter and then exploding on offense and playing tight defense in the final frame to set up a rematch with the top seed in the east, South Granville on Thursday night.
Hertford County lived and died by the three ball on Tuesday night, with it helping them stay close in the first half, but they went cold in the second half, only hitting two three pointers in the final two quarters.
Hertford's top player, 2021 (uncommitted) guard Daylan Askew, only had eight points on the night. Farmville's star guard Trequavion Smith, 2021(NC State) went for 32 points and five rebounds, along with one block and one steal.
Defensively, both teams were able to force steals and turnovers throughout the game, but the size of Farmville gave them a distinct advantage on the boards as well as getting blocks.
The matchup was interesting on paper, but Farmville Central was on another level by the end of the night, showing that they will not be an easy out in the tournament.
Farmville Central 20 19 22 26 87
Hertford County 15 16 17 11 59
Farmville Central
Terquavion Smith: 32 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal
Leontae Moye: 17 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks
Rashae Owens: 12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block
Jayden Pitt: 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
Jah Short: 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks
Hertford Country
Keondre Rodgers: 20 points
Israel Powell: 10 points
Kevin Rodgers: 9 points
Daylan Askew: 8 points
Quinton Wright: 6 points
Standouts
Trequavion Smith (Farmville Central) The NC State commit proved that he could do it all on the basketball court on Tuesday night. He had 32 points. He was 4-10 from behind the arc and was able to run up and down the court with ease against the Hertford defense. Smith was also able to recognize when the defense converged on him and made smart passes to open teammates. He is high energy and at 6'3 his athleticism and jump make him seem much bigger on the court.
Keondre Rodgers (Hertford County) 2022, Rodgers scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half of the game. He stayed quiet on the stat sheet until then, but he was able to get to the free-throw line and give his team meaningful points in a game where they struggled to get them. He was 5-8 from the free-throw line.
Leontae Moye (Farmville Central) 2021, Moye had a monster game on both ends of the court. On top of his 17 points, he added 11 rebounds and also 3 blocks to the stat sheet. Moye was a monster inside all night, grabbing rebounds and getting put backs on the offensive rebounds.
Jah Short (Farmville Central) 2023, Short's impact may not show up on the stat sheet with only 6 points in the scoring column, but he added 3 blocks and 4 rebounds, and it seemed like Short was in the middle of everything on defense and made things happen when he was in the game on offense. He continues to show that he can be an all-around star on the court and I expect this spring and summer he will be getting a lot of attention from D1 coaches. Short and teammate Jayden Pitt are going to be the leaders for Farmville Central going forward and their play in the first round of the tournament is a good sign for Jaguars fans.
