Tuesday's basketball rewind: No. 1 Queen's Grant starts to shake off some rust
Queen’s Grant, the reigning N.C. High School Athletic Association 2A state champion, has had a rough start to the season. The Stallions (2-2), ranked No. 1 in The Observer’s preseason Sweet 16 poll , lost to private school 3A state power Concord Academy last week on a buzzer-beater. Concord Academy is No. 3 in The Sweet 16. Not 24 hours later, they lost in overtime, 69-63, to private school 4A state champ Forsyth Country Day (Forsyth lost, 60-47, to Concord Academy Tuesday). Tuesday night at home, the Stallions played their second game in their brand new gymnasium and beat Carmel Christian, 71-59. Queen’s Grant — which lost 6-8 big man Mekhi Allen, a four-star recruit, to Faith Family (TX) in the offseason — got 28 points from 6-9 junior Chase Smith, plus 11 from Cannon DeBerry and 10 from point guard Preston Scott. Carmel’s Jermier Nelson, who had a school-record 51 points over the weekend, had 30. In his first three games, Nelson is averaging 38 points per game. Yes, it’s early, but that’s No. 1 in America. — In other boys’ featured games, No. 2 Ambassador Christian beat Caldwell Academy 89-74 behind 37 points from RJ Moore. As mentioned,
