By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune

Forget the fact that the varsity boys basketball teams at Elkin and East Wilkes linger at the bottom of the Northwest 1A standings.

On Friday night, the teams staged a game in Elkin that featured the heart and hustle of two conference championship contenders. The Elks stood tallest, but barely, after the final whistle, feeling good about their 59-56 win.

East nearly tied it up but Ethan Lyon's long-range three-pointer misfired as time expired.

Elkin led for much of the first half and extended its advantage out to 11 points by the third quarter. But as in the teams' December meeting, the Cardinals came roaring back. This time the Elks didn't let themselves be overtaken, winning for the first time at home.

“We finished what we started,” said Elks head coach Clarence Edwards, whose team improved to 2-16 overall and 2-10 in the Northwest 1A. “We played well as a team for the most part. We still made some silly mistakes but we were able to overcome those.

“If we played hard like that every ball game for 32 minutes, we’d have a few more wins.“

For a more detailed story on the game — with additional photos — pick up Monday's Tribune and turn to page B-1.

--> Click this link for a photo gallery from the boys and girls games: Elkin-East Wilkes Photo Gallery
Here are some more headlines you'll find in Monday's Tribune sports section: • East Wilkes girls get 15th win: Billy Brown's Cardinals won a defensive struggle against Elkin, 33-25. It wasn't always pretty, but East remains on pace for another upper-division finish in the always competitive Northwest 1A. The Lady Elks played solid defense but just couldn't get enough points on the board to overtake their rival.

• Surry Central grapples to silver: The Golden Eagles wrestling team places second overall in the Mountain Valley 2A championships at Ashe County. Casey Felts and Jacob Longworth won their respective weight classes.

• Austin Sloan repeats as MVAC champ: The Starmount sophomore has a pretty impressive resume so far. Two years in high school, two conference championships. Sloan didn't lose a conference match this season.

• Surry Central girls victorious in Hays: The Eagles completed a season sweep of North Wilkes with a 50-43 triumph on the road. North Wilkes on the varsity boys game, however, handing Surry Central its fourth-straight MVAC loss.


For The Dogs

• Ashe County's varsity boys and girls basketball teams took big steps toward clinching conference championships on Friday. Both teams beat North Surry. Both teams improved to 8-1 in the MVAC standings, a game ahead of their nearest challenger.

The girls result (Ashe won 57-52) was a blow to Starmount's regular season title aspirations. The Rams needed North Surry to win and then for them to beat North Surry this Friday to take the title. Basically Starmount will be playing for second place in the conference now when the Greyhounds visit on Friday.

The MVAC girls tournament should be fun, with Ashe, North Surry and Starmount all capable of beating each other (and Wilkes Central capable of playing spoiler). Ashe will have home court advantage for the semifinals and championship should the Huskies make it that far. What a great year for that if you're an Ashe fan.


Mark Your Calendar: Big Games/Events This Week

• The headline game for this week has to be the Starmount-North Surry varsity girls clash in Boonville. North Surry won the first meeting on its home floor 51-36 in early January.

An interesting sidebar to watch will be Starmount senior forward/center Julianna Prim. She'll be competing in the 1A/2A state swimming championships on Saturday morning at NC State. The last time she had a big hoops game Friday, with a swim meet looming the next morning, she went off on Forbush for 21 points and 21 rebounds.

• East Wilkes and West Wilkes will meet Tuesday night in Ronda. It's a big game for the East boys, hoping to stay off the bottom of the Northwest 1A standings.

• Elkin teams will take their final road trips to Stokes County this week, visiting North on Tuesday and South on Friday. North Stokes and South Stokes will be in a different conference from the Elks next season.

• Swimming will take center stage Saturday at NCSU. A number of swimmers from Elkin, Starmount, Surry Central and Forbush should be in medals contention. Prim won two state titles last year. Elkin's girls finished second in the team standings in 2008. The Elks possibly have a stronger team this go around.


Friday Night Hoops Scoreboard NORTHWEST 1A BOYS
Elkin 59, East Wilkes 56
South Stokes 49, North Stokes 46
East Surry 54, Alleghany 35
Bishop 88, West Wilkes 35

NORTHWEST 1A GIRLS
East Wilkes 33, Elkin 25
South Stokes 46, North Stokes 43
East Surry 48, Alleghany 27
Bishop 66, West Wilkes 24

MOUNTAIN VALLEY 2A BOYS
Wilkes Central 67, Forbush 51
North Wilkes 66, Surry Central 60
Ashe County 75, North Surry 54

MOUNTAIN VALLEY 2A GIRLS
Wilkes Central 74, Forbush 46
Surry Central 50, North Wilkes 43
Ashe County 57, North Surry 52

Check out Monday's Tribune sports section for complete Northwest 1A and MVAC 2A basketball standings
They Said It: Quotes Of Note

• "Out of the 14 guys we took, 12 placed in the top four. All around that’s a great day." — Surry Central wrestling coach Stephen Priddy after his Eagles' performance in the MVAC championships

• “Everybody out here who saw this game, both groups, they should be proud of what they saw tonight. It was hard-fought, good basketball.” — East Wilkes boys basketball coach Justin Call with an accurate description of Friday's Elkin-East boys basketball clash