Undefeated Forest Hills gets balanced scoring in third round playoff win

MARSHVILLE — If playoff opponents want to scheme a plan that limits the touches of Forest Hills High's top two scorers — Jake Topper and Jalen Huntley — they will quickly learn the 28-0 Yellow Jackets are balanced on offense.

The Jackets defeated the Lake Norman Charter Knights, 61-50, in front of an electrified home crowd in the third round of the 2A state playoffs on Saturday night. Coach Matt Sides' team is moving on to their fifth straight semifinal appearance.

Five Forest Hills players scored between 12 and eight points on the way to victory: Topper and senior guard Dillon Wright scored 12 each, freshman guard Tyveon Burch had 11 points, senior guard Brandon Barrier scored 10 and Huntley added eight.

Sides praised his players for playing together.

"We may have been a little too excited," Sides said. "I thought (LNC) got more clean looks in the first half. We were focusing on staying attached to (Donovan Atwell). I thought Dillon Wright fought all night long to try to stay in his pocket. (Atwell) is a tremendous shooter and we didn't want to give him any space… It was a team effort tonight."

LNC came into the game averaging 65.3 points per game. Atwell finished with 18 points and Jackson Porter scored 17 — the rest of the Knights combined for 15 points.

Forest Hills led 14-9 after the first quarter, and the Knights kept themselves in the game with three 3-pointers in the second quarter. LNC outscored the Yellow Jackets 11-8 while the home team held on to a 22-20 advantage going into the break.

"I feel like we did not play our best tonight," Topper said. "We had to adjust ... we were letting the turnovers add up. Second half, our team pulled through ..."

The Jackets used a 20-9 run to push the lead out to 42-29.

Huntley, a point guard, helped seal the victory with two steals and five points in the fourth quarter.

Forest Hills will host Mountain Heritage on Tuesday. The Cougars are balanced and experienced, with seniors Lucas Jenkins, Nathaniel Ledford, Callin Randolph, and Justus Shelton combining to average 56 points per game this season.

Forest Hills 61, Lake Norman Charter 50

Lake Norman 9 11 9 21 — 50

Forest Hills 14 8 18 21 — 61

Forest Hills scoring

FH — Topper 12, Wright 12, Tyveon Burch 11, Brandon Barrier 10, Huntley 8, Zack Barbour 4, Mashad Hester 3, Thomas Morris 1

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