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By Jay Spivey 

For the Clemmons Courier

The high-school basketball regular season is coming down the home stretch, and both varsity teams at West Forsyth finished tough road stretches Friday night with Central Piedmont 4-A games. 

The West Forsyth boys defeated Glenn 70-56 in Kernersville this past Tuesday night, but they lost at Reagan 73-66 Friday night to finish a four-game road trip.  

The West Forsyth girls also faced the same daunting four-game road trip, but they closed it on a high note with a win at Glenn this past Tuesday and a win at Reagan on Friday.  

The West Forsyth boys defeated Glenn Tuesday night with the help of 20 points from Jacari Brim, and 16 points for Cam White. 

“I thought we played the way we’re supposed to play (against Glenn),” Coach Marlon Brim of West Forsyth said. “We played fast. We played the way we’re supposed to play. We got off on a good note, but at the end of the day I tip my cap to Reagan.” 

Zyire Murphy led Glenn (6-14, 0-10) with 22 points. 

In the game at Reagan, it was tied at 32 at halftime. The third quarter see-sawed back and forth. Reagan (12-8, 4-6) went on a 6-0 run and took a 41-35 lead after Adam Horobey  scored on a follow with 5:17 remaining in the third quarter.  

“I thought we started real slow the second half,” Marlon Brim said. “It’s not like the first half. The game’s in the past, but I thought we started slow.” 

The Titans came right back and went on a 6-0 run of their own, tying it at 41 after Anthony Jordan hit a 3-pointer with 4:30 left in third quarter. The Raiders went on another run 6-0 to take a 47-41 lead after Darius Banks banked in a shot. However, the Titans once again clawed back to tie it at 48 with 1:18 left in third quarter after Jordan hit a jumper.  

“It’s just part of growing up and being an experienced team,” Marlon Brim said. “But I thought we was experienced, but we just got off to a slow start.” 

Reagan took a 50-48 lead after the third quarter and dominated the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. Tied at 52-52, Reagan went on a 14-2 run to take a 66-54 lead with 2:18 remaining after Lincoln Jackson made one of two free throws. 

The Titans were forced to foul to try and get back in it. It almost worked. The Raiders were 17-of-29 from the free-throw line overall, and the Titans trimmed it to 70-66 after Jacari Brim hit two free throws with 55.5 seconds left.  

“I thought they stretched it to (12) and we couldn’t make it overcome,” Marlon Brim said. “So, but I give our guys credit. We battled to the end.” 

The four-point deficit late in the game was as close as the Titans made it. The Raiders made three of their final six free-throw attempts to win by seven points.  

Jordan Jones led the Titans with 22 points, Jordan chipped in with 16, and Jacari Brim added 12.  

K.J. Ford led the Raiders with 18 points, Horobey scored 12, and Jayden McCrae contributed 10.  

“We’ve just got to pick our heads up and play,” Marlon Brim said. “It’s nothing that needs to be said. They know what we’ve got to do, so we’ve just got to get it done.” 

After a four-game road trip, West Forsyth (15-3, 7-3) finally gets to play at home this week – Tuesday against Davie County (18-2, 8-2) and Friday against Reynolds (10-10, 3-7). 

West Forsyth just played at Davie on Jan. 23, which was a game that was rescheduled because of severe weather earlier last month. Davie upended West Forsyth 78-71. 

“(We’ve) just gotta play. It’s conference,” Marlon Brim said. “It’s no need in feeling sorry. We’ve got to get ready for Tuesday.” 

Mount Tabor (16-4, 9-1) defeated Davie County in Mocksville this past Friday to move into sole possession of first place in the Central Piedmont 4-A. West Forsyth is third and East Forsyth (10-10, 6-4) is in fourth. Reagan is fifth, Reynolds is sixth, Parkland (10-10, 3-7) is seventh and Glenn (6-14, 0-10) is eighth. 

“We never look ahead,” Marlon Brim said. “The CPC is a gauntlet, so you’ve got to take one game at a time.” 

As for the West Forsyth girls, they’ve won the last three games after losing the previous four. This past week, they defeated Glenn 40-26 on Tuesday and followed that with a 34-27 win at Reagan this past Friday.  

“Playing Reagan is always tough,” Coach Catrina Green of West Forsyth said. “We match up, I think, the best with them. But I mean, it’s always tough playing against Reagan. They are, I think, our true rivals. So, coming here and battling, it’s always going to be a tough game.” 

In the Reagan game, West Forsyth led 8-3 after the first quarter and 13-10 at halftime. West Forsyth kept a three-point lead after the third, leading 21-18.  

Campbell McLain made two free throws for the Titans to make it 25-18 with 5:57 left. 

West Forsyth took its biggest lead of the game after Emma Staples made two free throws with 1 minute remaining to push the lead to 30-21. 

“I usually don’t look at the score unless it’s a timeout,” Green said. “So, once I saw it, I said, ‘Oh, we can relax a little bit.’ But with anybody in our conference unless you’re up 20, sometimes that’s not good enough, you still have to stay locked in and focused because that lead can drop from 11 to 1 really fast.” 

Staples led West Forsyth (11-7, 6-4) with 18 points. Grace Galyon led Reagan (9-10, 5-5) with 14 points. 

“(Staples) was just being aggressive,” Green said. “She found the open spot. She didn’t settle and take bad shots. She played patient and she played confident. That was the biggest thing. 

“And I have a saying, ‘We move how you move.’ She’s been moving real well the last three games and it’s helped fuel us to get three big wins in row.” 

The win against Reagan came in the third meeting of the season. Reagan defeated West Forsyth 52-42 in November in the Mary Garber Holiday Tip-Off Classic, which was the first game of the season. West Forsyth has bounced back to win the last two games this season, the first coming 42-35 on Jan. 5. 

“I think the biggest thing is we’ve had everybody, and we’re healthy,” Green said. 

West Forsyth also plays home games this week against Davie County (11-9, 5-5) and Reynolds (12-8, 8-2). 

Mount Tabor (15-5, 9-1) is leading the conference, followed by Reynolds, West Forsyth is third, Reagan and Davie County (11-9, 5-5) are tied for fourth, Parkland (5-14, 4-6) is sixth, East Forsyth (6-13, 3-7) is seventh, and Glenn (2-18, 0-10) is in eighth. 

“We dropped a couple games in the first half of the conference that really would’ve solidified it (NCHSAA Class 4-A tournament berth), but I just told the girls, every possession matters,” Green said.