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Something felt off Saturday – like Christ School needed to recalibrate for its first competitive game in weeks.
T.J. Hamilton ’24 was ready and able to be part of the solution.
The Cornell football recruit put together the most complete game of his high school basketball career with 10 points and no shortage of blue-collar work in the post. The Greenies were able to feed off T.J. and the strength of Mikey Wilkins ’25 (20 points) to overtake visiting High Point Wesleyan Christian Academy in the second half of a NCISAA 4-A state quarterfinal game, 55-49.
T.J. scored eight of his points in the second half, including six in the final quarter. The 6-foot-7 senior from Creedmoor, N.C., has been a valued reserve all season long for a guard-oriented team.
“I felt like we were moving a little slow and so I tried to bring the energy, bring it back up. I could see that we needed it,” T.J. said.
“This is the last ride for the seniors, and I knew I needed to come out with a bang. We’re trying to get back to the state championship and we needed that one.”
Third-seeded Christ School (24-5) advances to play at No. 2 Covenant Day (22-7) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The two teams met in the regular season – a game also played in Matthews, N.C. Despite leading by as many as nine points, the Greenies succumbed on the road, 63-57.
Christ School was without T.J., Bruce White ’24, and Calvin Williams ’24 for that first game with Covenant Day as the trio were on recruiting visits for football. Like T.J., Bruce (N.C. State) and Calvin (Union) have since committed.
Wesleyan traveled two-plus hours to get to the Greenie Dome on Saturday and the sixth-seeded Trojans were a worthy opponent and then some. They led 22-20 at halftime and it took a full-court drive and lay-in by Mikey to tie things up, 33-33, after three quarters.
Christ School scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and never looked back. The rest of the scorers were: Jamari Briggs ’24 (nine points), Madden Collins ’25 (nine), Keenan Wilkins ’24 (five), and Lleyton Thomas-Johnson ’24 (two), who gave everything he could despite being slowed by the flu. Lleyton's putback only eight seconds in was the first basket of the game.
Saturday was the first game for the Greenies since Feb. 9, and their first game that wasn’t a blowout since late January.
“I think it was a layover effect. At some point, there is only so much practices can do,” Greenies coach Josh Coley said.
“We’ve had some grueling practices, but it had been a while since our last game and we just needed to play.”
Covenant Day is 12-0 at home this season and was the last team to beat Christ School prior to the Greenies’ current eight-game winning streak. Coach Coley knows Lions coach Michael Laney from their time coaching in the Charlotte area.
“Michael has done a phenomenal job, maximizing his opportunity at a school like Covenant Day,” Coach Coley said.
“I can’t say enough good things about what he has done. Tuesday night, they’ll get our very best and we hope that our very best is good enough.”