Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Ian Koontz morphed into an absolute firecracker over the last six games, and Davie’s JV boys basketball team brushed aside Parkland and Glenn in the final two games to finish with a cool 16-4 record.
“We hit our stride at the end of the year,” first-year coach Tracey Arnold said. “We were peaking at the end.”
Davie 67, Parkland 35
As expected, visiting Parkland didn’t put up much resistance on Feb. 8.
Koontz was the man of the hour with 27 points and 10 rebounds. It was his sixth straight outing with 12-plus points and his third double-double in five games. Oh, and the 27 points were the most by a Davie JV male in 57 games. (Luke Williams had 27 in a 67-63 win over West Forsyth in January of 2019.)
Carter Helton had 14 points, Elijah Dillard seven, CJ Phelps six, Cam Ball five, Ethan Ratledge three, Trey’von Doulin three and Luke Clark two. Ratledge also had 12 rebounds, giving him 25 in two games.
Davie 55, Glenn 43
When Davie squeaked past Glenn 40-39 in January, the War Eagles were led by Cam Ball’s 16 points and seven rebounds. They didn’t have a sick Ball for the rematch in Kernersville on Feb. 10, yet they still had little trouble beating the Bobcats.
Koontz was dynamic again with 14 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks.
“We didn’t have Ian (in the one-point win over Glenn),” Arnold said after Koontz’s third straight double-double. “He’s our glue guy. He’s a beast. He does everything. He continued to play like he’s been playing, and I had a few other guys pick up their game.”
Braddock Coleman was an example of Davie’s depth. With Ball on the shelf, Coleman delivered his most points (13) in his last eight games. He made three steals and scored 10 of Davie’s 15 points in the fourth quarter, including 6-for-6 shooting from the foul line.
“Braddock played really good in the second half,” Arnold said.
While Helton had 11 points, Ratledge amassed six points, 14 boards, six assists and two steals. It was his third straight game with 12-plus rebounds.
“Ethan led us in assists this year,” Arnold said. “He played like a point-forward. He took over that role. He didn’t score as much as I thought he would, but he passed and made sure other people got the ball. And he scored when he needed to.”
Phelps was another example of Davie’s deep bench.
“CJ played big in Cam’s spot defensive-wise,” he said. “He only scored four, but they were a big four points when he scored them. He played big minutes on the defensive end. He did a real good job contesting shots and rebounding. He was a big force in there.”
Sebastian Bellomo had five points and Dillard had two.
Arnold savored the moment of going 10-4 in the Central Piedmont Conference and ending the season on a four-game winning streak.
“We had a good season,” he said. “We let a couple slip away but you really can’t complain. In the first win over Glenn, we probably didn’t deserve that one.”
Helton provided double-figure points in 14 of 20 games, including the last four, to average a team-best 12.7 points. Koontz averaged 11.3, Gavin Williams 10.3, Ball 9.7, Ratledge 7.5 and Coleman 5.3. Williams missed the last five games with an injury.