East Flat Rock – Eagle fans chanted appreciatively for Caiden Brewer, who scored 41 points in his encore performance, as well as for other Eagle players and their coaches, who lined up facing the home crowd as usual right after the games.
East head coach Marquintus Jones is proud that this 2024-25 squad won more games than any in program history, joined the 1991-92 state runner-up West Henderson Falcons as a local team unbeaten in the regular season, and won the past three Mountain Seven conference tournaments.
E.H. for East Henderson nearly stood for Escaping Houdini, given how the Eagles almost pulled out victory from apparent defeat with a late 12-0 run at home against Winston-Salem Oak Grove in round two.
Lady Cats Advance
Hendersonville’s girls squad is the sole Henderson or Buncombe public high school team to reach round three. The HHS Lady Bearcats, seeded ninth in 2A, won 61-56 against eighth-seeded Shelby. Female teams that lost in 3A in round two included fourth-seeded A.C. Reynolds (54-46 to Gastonia Huss), 11th-seeded North Buncombe (67-50 at Smith), and 23rd-seeded West Henderson (66-52 at Oak Grove).
All local boys’ teams lost last Friday — 3A East and sixth-seeded Reynolds (79-61 to Ben L. Smith), 2A ninth-seeded HHS (59-50 at Monroe), and 2A tenth-seeded Owen (95-65 at Shelby). The Enka Jets and North Henderson Knights dropped their 3A openers.
Outshot in the End
East seemingly lost to a version of itself — undersized but sharpshooting. The teams were tied at 19 after a quarter. However, the Grizzlies outscored East 21-12 in the second quarter, leading 40-31 at halftime.
East doubled up OGHS 24-12 in the third quarter, taking a 55-52 lead on Caiden Brewer’s three-pointer. Brewer also drilled a three-pointer in the final seconds of the opening quarter.
East had momentum heading into overtime, if overtime had indeed materialized. The game was tied at 72 when Caiden Brewer heaved a half-court shot just before the buzzer sounded. It missed.
But officials put a handful of seconds back onto the clock and gave the ball to East near midcourt. Adams passed it to Caiden Brewer, who was apparently knocked out of bounds by a defender. Officials blew the play dead. In a very questionable call, they did not call a foul; instead, they ruled it a turnover and gave the Grizzlies the ball.
Pudgy senior forward Max Hurt took the inbounds pass and threw up a turnaround three-pointer before the buzzer, which went in for the upset win.
Spectacular Caiden
Caiden Brewer carried East to victory by scoring 41 points, including 17 of 19 in the first period, shooting 57 percent (41 of 72) for the game. He scored East’s first 14 points and, down 68-59, led a 12-0 run to seize the lead. Senior forward Kyle Bailey hit a baseline three-pointer, followed by a three-pointer from Riley Adams, putting East up 69-68.
In a crucial moment, freshman Jaylin Brewer’s steal and assist to Caiden resulted in a layup for a 71-68 lead with 30 seconds left. Caiden Brewer then made one of two free throws to tie the game at 72. After a missed three-pointer by Hurt, possession changed hands until Caiden Brewer won the game. He also contributed nine rebounds and six assists, while junior center Jaden Evans added ten points. Adams and Jaylin Brewer each scored nine, and senior PG Loucas Shoaf led the Grizzlies with 28 points.
Adams Stars in Opener
East clobbered Central Cabarrus by 23 points — 64-41 — in round one. Complementing Caiden Brewer’s scoring, Adams drilled six three-pointers. In the first half, Adams scored 14 of his 20 points and sank four of seven three-pointers. His back-to-back three-pointers expanded East’s lead to 23-14 in the decisive second quarter when East outscored CCHHS 19-11 to lead 30-19 at halftime. Adams made half (6 of 12) of his “treys” for the entire game and hustled for six rebounds against taller, athletic foes.
Caiden Brewer tallied 23 points, seven assists, and eight rebounds.
East scored the game’s first eight points and never gave up the lead. “We wanted to come out and ‘hit’ (score) first,” Coach Jones said. “Our plan was to come out and be stifling defensively and give them no confidence.”