Great
job by
Mounties,
McDowell
Congratulations to the
Kings Mountain High
men’s
basket-
ball team,
which
last week
became
the first
KMHS
basket-
ball team
to win
Gary Stewart three
Editor straight
smconference
champi-
onships.
Kings Mountain began
playing basketball in 1921
and at no previous time in
history have they won more
than back-to-back champi-
onships.
Don Parker's 1966-67 and
Bob Hussey’s 1967-68 teams
won two straight
Southwestern 3A
Conference crowns. Those
teams featured George
Adams, who was a three-
time All-American at
Gardner-Webb and played
in the ABA, and Ken
Mitchem, who played col-
lege basketball at Pan
American.
The ‘68 team also featured
Otis Cole, who played on
the 1972 Florida State team
that lost to Bill Walton and
UCLA in the NCAA cham-
pionship game, and Charles
Barnes, who went on to
play at Appalachian State.
John Blalock’s
Mountaineers won back-to-;
back titles in 1981 and ‘82.
Those teams featured Carl
Smith, who went on to
break Dr. J's (Julius Erving)
assist record at the
University, of
Massachusetts. Blalock’s
son, Terrence, and Demetris
Goode also went on to play
college ball. ‘
The tremendous accom-
plishments of the past three
Mountaineer teams should
pay off when the
Southwestern Foothills
Conference passes out post-
season awards in a couple
of weeks.
Based on how the new
conference has chosen
teams in the past, all five
Mountaineer starters should
stand an excellent chance to
make All-Conference.
Danny McDowell should
be a shoo-in for Conference
Coach of the Year. He has
built one of the strongest
programs not only in the
conference, but in Western
North Carolina, but his
efforts of the past two sea-
sons went unnoticed by the
conference coaches.
Kings Mountain's senior
point guard Derrick Smith,
who started as a freshman
and has been a key part of
all three KM championship
teams, should be a leading
candidate for Player of the
Year honors.
The Kings Mountain Herald
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain's Mountaineers
were without their Byrd man, but it
didn’t keep them from soaring to their
goal of being outright Southwestern
Foothills Conference champions.
With their number two scorer and
rebounder D.J. Byrd out of action with
a knee injury, the Mounteineers went
into Crest's Ed Peeler Gymnasium and
flew past the Chargers 71-56 in their
final regular season game Thursday
night.
In a game in which a Crest win
would have created a tie for first place
and given the Chargers top seed in the
playoffs, the win gave the
Mountaineers a final 11-1 SWFH mark
and their third straight conference
championship. The Mountaineers had
shared the regular season crown with
Hickory in 2001-02 and Burns in 2002-
03.
The outcome was never in serious
doubt. Dashawn Young's 3-point field
goal on the first shot of the game ignit-
ed an early 9-2 KM run and the
Mountaineers never trailed.
Even though they've played spectac-
ular at times, it was really the first
game that the Mountaineers have dom-
inated from start to finish.
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“It was just one of those nights that
we played four quarters for a change,
said Coach Danny McDowell, who
becomes the first KMHS basketball
coach to win three straight champi-
onships.
In recent games the Mountaineers
have started slowly before using their
full-court press to force opponents into
turnovers and turn the momentum in
KM'’s favor, but this time McDowell
expected things would be different. He
could sense from Wednesday's practice
that his team would play well and
rebound from Tuesday night's loss at
Hickory.
“We watched film Wednesday after-
noon and after that the kids had a
players only meeting,” McDowell
pointed out. “The kids said ‘coach,
we'll see you at practice’ and I didn’t
see them again until practice. We had
the best practice we've had all year, so
I knew going into the game that the
kids were going to play.”
When the team arrived at the Crest
gym the JV boys game was still in
progress. Usually, the varsity boys sit
in the stands until the third quarter of
the girls game. But the Mountaineers
went directly to the locker room and
never came out.
“From the time I went in there in the
See History, 7A
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GARY STEWART / HERALD
Kings Mountain players Darik Gary (25) and Derrick Smith (20) apply the pressure in Mountaineers’ full-court press.
The Mountaineers defeated Crest Thursday night to become the first basketball team in school history to win three
straight conference championships. The;Mountaineers were scheduled to host Fred T. Foard last night in the second
round of the Southwestern Foothills Conference Tournament, and will enter play in the State 3A Tournament next week.
KM Mountaineers make history
with third straight league crown
Kings Mountain's David McClish (33)
makes strong inside move for two
points in last week’s home game with
St. Stephens.
February 19, 2004
Mounties
open bid
for trip to
Regional
Byrd probably
to miss playoffs
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Despite their regular sea-
son championship, Kings
Mountain's Mountaineers
will probably face a tough
battle as they try to make
back-to-back trips to the
Western 3A Regionals.
Heading into a second
round Southwestern
Foothills Conference tour-
nament match-up last night
with Fred T. Foard at
Donald L. Parker
Gymnasium, the
Mountaineers were without
the services of their #2
rebounder D.J. Byrd, who is
averaging 12 rebounds per
game.
And, as they enter the
State 3A playoffs next week,
the Mountaineers will still
likely be Byrd-less.
Byrd recently hurt his
knee in the next-to-last
SWFH regular season game
at Hickory, and Coach
Danny McDowell said he
cannot stand to put pres-
sure on the knee.
In Kings Mountain’s run-
and-gun offense and full-
court pressing defense, that
means that Byrd won't get
much - if any - playing
time. ;
“Byrd’s definitely out of
the conference tourna-
ment,” McDowell said,
“and I doubt he'll be able to
gonext week in‘the State:
Iie Gol ig td hiss tHE
big fellow. The tournaments
are going to be tough for
everyone, and going in
without one of your starters
makes it very difficult.”
As league champion, the
Mountaineers drew an
opening round bye in the
SWFH tournament. Fred T.
Foard, the fifth seed,
knocked off #4 R-S Central
to advance to the semi-
finals against the
Mountaineers last night at 8
o'clock. St. Stephens, the #6
seed, knocked off Hickory
in the first round and was
to face #2 Crest, which
defeated Burns, in last
night's opener at 7 p.m.
The boys and girls cham-
pionship games are slated
for Friday night at Hickory
High School.
Kings Mountain will also
draw a bye in the first
round of the State 3A play-
offs, which begin next
Monday.
In the second round,
which will probably be next
Wednesday, they will host
either the #3 team from the
Mountain Athletic
Conference or the #2 team
from the Southwestern
Foothills.
If the Mountaineers win
that game, they would
advance to the Sectional
Championship game.
The Mountaineers could
See Playoffs, 8A
Cleveland
Branch NAACP will hold its
Annual M.L. Campbell Membership
Banquet
on Saturday, February 28th at 5:00pm at
Bynum Chapel AME Zion Church’s Family
Life Center ~ 213 N. Cansler St.,
Kings Mountain, NC.
Dr. Edward D. Sadler, Jr. ~ Superintendent
‘Gaston County Schools will be the guest
speaker. All are cordially invited.
Tickets are $20.00 per person.
Call Sister Esther Campbell
(704) 739-3352.
County