High school basketball conference tournament sweep special for Cardinal Gibbons
Cardinal Gibbons sweeping this basketball season’s Cap Six 4A Conference tournament championships offered reminders of the pre-state tournament’s “win or go home” reality’s perpetual newness. Crusaders coaches Brent Nolan (boys) and Cheryl Reid (girls) concurred after leading their teams to historical milestones in their first head coaching seasons at the Raleigh Catholic high school.
“We missed on our first goal,” Nolan said of the Cap Six regular season title. “And we secured our second goal” — a conference tournament championship.
“You just have to grab hold and be present for opportunities like (Thursday) night,” Nolan added.
Cardinal Gibbons’ 62-57 win over Leesville Road — at Broughton’s Holliday Gymnasium — secured the Crusader boys’ first conference tournament trophy since the school rejoined the N.C. High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) in the fall of 2005. Nolan graduated from Cardinal Gibbons during the preceding spring. Since then, the Crusaders have competed in NCHSAA 2A, 3A, and 4A classifications.
Winning a championship in a storied venue like Holliday Gymnasium is impactful, too.
“The Cap Six has hall of famers in it. It has current NBA players in it,” Nolan said. “It’s incredible, the historical evidence of just how successful some of these programs have been.”
Affording students what Nolan called “the full high school basketball experience” — precluded last season by the ongoing pandemic — awakens memories of the storied Cap Six tournament tradition.
Chris Davis’ 2021-22 Millbrook team was among six Triangle area 4A boys’ and girls’ programs that swept conference regular season and tournament championships with undefeated league records. Millbrook’s girls, Cleveland’s boys, Garner’s girls, Hillside’s girls, and Cardinal Gibbons’ girls did likewise.
Greater meaning for Reid
The tournament title’s meaning for Cheryl Reid was threefold — as a coach, parent, and player.
“There’s so much energy, and there are so many good rivalries by that point in the season. It’s just a fun atmosphere,” Reid said. “It’s just a fun and great experience no matter what level it’s happening.”
For Reid, a basketball lifer, conference tournament triumphs are still new. Thursday’s milestone was Reid’s first conference tournament championship since she coached her younger daughter Madi as an eighth-grader at Saint Michael Catholic School (Cary) during the 2015-16 season. That same evening, Reid watched her son Jason (Madi’s twin) lead the Saint Michael boys to a Triangle Catholic Schools Athletic Conference (TCSAC) tournament championship.
Reid’s older daughter, Morgan (Cardinal Gibbons ’14) — the sophomore starting point guard on Cardinal Gibbons’ 2011-12 regular season conference championship team (the school’s most recent before this season) — never won a Cardinal Gibbons basketball conference tournament title. The same is true for Madi (’20), Jason (’20), and Reid’s older sons Justin (’15) and Jake (’17).
Before this season, the Cardinal Gibbons girls last secured a conference tournament title during the 2007-08 season.
Reid (whose maiden name is Perozek) was an All-Big Ten point guard at Ohio State before the Big Ten held conference tournaments.
“I would have loved the opportunity to have that experience,” Reid said. “Crazy things happen in conference tournaments that are exciting and fun. That’s why athletes compete.”
Eyes forward to state
Nolan and Reid agreed that the prospect of injuries during conference tournament games with debatable impacts upon state tournament qualifiers is not a mitigating circumstance.
“A team that’s injured early can get hot and still get in,” Nolan said.
This season, injuries, certainly, include most unfortunate quarantine circumstances. Thus, a conference tournament optimizes (as much as possible) opportunities for that “full high school basketball experience.”
Reid added that injuries could happen in practice, too.
“I guess I say that until one of our players gets hurt,” Reid said. “Then, I might change my mind. But we made it through.”
Around the region
Friday’s conference tournament finals included three “rubber” games, among which were both Southwest Wake finals at Apex Friendship. The Holly Springs boys defeated the host Patriots 75-67. Apex Friendship’s girls — led by McDonalds All-American Indya Nivar — prevailed 64-58 against Panther Creek.
In Durham (DAC-VII Conference), Jordan’s boys won their second of three meetings with Hillside, 46-38.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 12:27 PM with the headline "High school basketball conference tournament sweep special for Cardinal Gibbons."