Mikey Wilkins ’25 flexes his biceps when the emotional spillover from a big play calls for it. Muscles and moments kept coming Tuesday night.
The two-time Carolinas Athletic Association Player of the Year saved his best half of basketball in the Greenie Dome for his final home game. Mikey scored 21 of his game-high 29 points in the third and fourth quarters and Christ School thwarted a commendable upset bid by Forsyth Country Day in the NCISAA 4-A semifinals, 75-65.
Dacen Petty ’26 added 20 points and Tyler Jones ’26 had 10.
The Greenies (25-2) will go for the program’s ninth state championship in school history, and their third straight, Saturday in Charlotte. Game-time is 7 p.m. for the 4-A state final against Carmel Christian (18-8) at Providence Day).
“I am grateful. It’s an honor (to be back in the championship game),” Coach Josh Coley said.
“I’m thankful to my wife for the sacrifices she makes for our family. And to give these guys that moment. There are some guys who have never been there, whether moving up from JV or whatever it might be – to walk into the locker room and see their face and realize the hard work has paid off, it’s a blessing.”
Operating at a breakneck pace, Christ School led 26-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Furies (27-6), hailing from the Winston-Salem area, patiently whittled that lead down to 10 at the half and even got within four points in the third quarter. To compound matters for the Greenies, point guard Madden Collins ’25 was shaken up and briefly had to leave the game.
Christ School closed out the third quarter with a 13-0 run despite two, even three defenders at a time draped off of Mikey.
“We’ve been talking all year about ‘punch first and keep punching.’ That’s been the thing. Some games you can punch and teams will lay down, but when you get to the Final Four, everyone is good and we knew (Forsyth) wouldn’t lay down,” Coach Coley said.
“There was talk about how they could hold the ball if they went up. Their offense is good, they execute well, and get the shots they want. From Sunday to Monday and even today, practice before the game and the walkthrough, we talked about how important those first four minutes were to turn it on. We came out, pressed, and did some other stuff to kind of muck the game up. And we knew if we could make them play from behind, that would work in our favor. They did exceptionally well and stuck to the plan. I thought Tyler Jones was exceptional. He had one job, to guard No. 4 (Q Williams) for them and he did his job.”
Other scorers for Christ School were Madden (nine points), William Robinson ’26 (four), and Mason Collins ’28 (three).
Saturday’s game will be a rematch of the 2023 NCISAA 4-A championship game (won by Christ School, 53-48). Carmel is the No. 2 seed, yet was an underdog in Tuesday’s 65-60 double overtime win over third-seeded Charlotte Providence Day. The Chargers had been expected to have homecourt advantage this weekend and were last year’s state runners-up to the Greenies.