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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

The Davie varsity boys basketball team is coming off just the third 22-win season in history, and it is primed to win big again in 2024-25.
The optimism starts with Jackson Powers and Bryson Mickey. Powers, a fourth-year varsity member, is the team’s heart and soul for the third time around. As a sophomore, he averaged 14.7 points, 13.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots. As a junior, he led Davie in points (13.8), rebounds (10.7) and blocks (1.9) again. With 823 career points, the 6-6 big man is on track to join exclusive company in terms of the 1,000-point club, which has 11 members since the school opened in 1956. He has college offers from Randolph (Virginia), Dean (Massachusetts) and William Peace.
“He has continued to work on his body and his motor is a lot better now,” third-year Davie coach Josh Pittman said. “He is running the floor a lot better. He has worked on his post-game skills. He’s to the point now where we can basically running our offense through him. His basketball IQ has continuously sharpened throughout the years, and competitive summer basketball gave him the confidence to prove to himself that he can compete against anybody.”
Mickey was absolutely electric the moment he transferred in from Calvary Day just before the start of last season. He averaged 12.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3 assists, hit 45 percent of his 3-point shots and 81 percent of free throws. When Davie’s season ended, he was 12th in 4-A with 58 triples. Mickey, who also received an offer from Dean, has an offensive tool kit to allow him to score in a variety of ways.
“He lost 15-20 pounds, so you will see a better, slimmer version of him,” Pittman said. “His shot has always been good, but he has also developed his ballhandling skills, and now he can get downhill better. He’s a little hungrier now and he’s poised to have another big year.”
Ethan Driver is a star receiver in football who should be ready to take a big step forward on the hardwood. Last year as a sophomore, he broke into the starting lineup around midseason, delivered six double-figure games and averaged 5.7 points. He just goes out there, plays his heart out and doesn’t care if he gets any recognition.
“He’s a team guy,” Pittman said. “He can score and his defense is really good. I’m excited that he decided to play because he has a lot of good things going on in football. He’s going to be really important to us if we’re going to be successful.”
Senior Adam Brown (2.7 ppg) has improved by leaps and bounds and is primed for a breakout.
“Adam has the ability to start or be the first player off the bench,” Pittman said. “He had a really productive summer and his game has continued to develop. His offensive game is sneaky and effective. His confidence is high and he’s been playing at a high level since March or April. I think he’s going to have a big role and he’s going to surprise a lot of people. When we played Calvary, he defended the ball really well against some scoring guards, and he also had 18 points.”
Elliott Erlandsson, a 6-4 senior who averaged 3.5 last year, is an athletic specimen.
“With him, it’s about being consistent, being a willing rebounder, making sure he picks and chooses his shots wisely and plays the game with intensity,” Pittman said. “He’s probably the most athletic player we have – hands down – and he might be one of the most athletic in the conference. But he has to put all that together.”
Pittman has the depth and flexibility to go deep into his bench. Guys like Isaac Swisher, Landon King and Cam Owens will have opportunities to play much larger roles than a year ago.
“Isaac’s role will definitely be increased from last year,” he said of the junior. “I expect him to get some quality minutes and to be a very good post presence for us. He has all the skills. He was able to play some high-quality basketball over the summer against some really good competition. Between Isaac (6-7), Jackson and Elliott, we probably have three of the bigger bigs in the conference.
“Landon (a senior) has that dog mentality. I can put him on one of the other team’s better players. He’s a very athletic guy. I think he will play a huge role coming off the bench.
“I think Cam (a senior) will split the one and the two. He will play some quality minutes. Hopefully when we do need him at the point, he can step in and handle the pressure. He can move to the two naturally without any problems.”
Davie has a newcomer in Asher Tolbert, a senior transfer. Last year at Calvary, he was the team’s No. 3 scorer at 9.9 and converted 39 percent of his 3s.
“He is a 6-4 shooting guard,” Pittman said. “He’s a good pickup for us because he’s a dynamic player that can score the ball. But he also rebounds very well for his position. He will play some very meaningful minutes. His addition to our program is huge.”
Juniors Noah Tysinger and George Sakai and sophomore Ben Reid round out the roster.
“Noah did not make JV last year, but he made varsity this year because of his commitment to the workouts and the improvement in his game,” Pittman said. “(Tysinger and Sakai) are high-energy guys that help us out in practice a lot. They will place some minutes here and there. Ben is long and he can shoot the ball well. We’re just working with him on adjusting to the speed of the game.”
And then: “I think we will have a 9-10 rotation. Having 12 guys buy in creates a great practice atmosphere. We have another good, coachable group of kids that want to play for each other – that we before me – and I’m excited.”
Last year the War Eagles did historic things. The 16-0 start marked the longest winning streak in Davie’s 68-year history. They ended Mt. Tabor’s 18-game winning streak in the regular season after losing 14 of the previous 15 meetings. They stopped a six-game losing streak to East Forsyth. They finished top two in the CPC for just the seventh time in 39 years. They notched their first playoff win in five years and finished 22-5.
Tabor (12-2), Davie (11-3), West Forsyth (10-4) and East Forsyth (9-5) finished in the top half of the CPC. Tabor is a traditional power and West is flat-out loaded. But Davie has a lot to be excited about, too.
“When you are dealing with the CPC, there’s a lot of player turnaround,” Pittman said. “You never know what you’re going to play against until you see some games on film. I expect it to be a very competitive conference. I know West Forsyth is loaded. They picked up a lot of transfers.
“I just want us to be competitive. If we’re competitive in every game, as long as we’re right there at the end, we’ve got a chance and I think we can compete against anybody. So we just have to keep working and take on that challenge.”
Notes: Pittman has a new varsity assistant in James Nance. … Will Tibbs, Pittman’s right-hand man the past two years, was going to be the new JV head coach, but he took an assistant coaching job at Winston-Salem State. “I told him at his age, that’s a blessed opportunity that he has to take,” Pittman said. … The new JV coach is Brandon Thalasinos, who is also the JV baseball coach. His assistant is James McRae, also a newcomer in the program. “The good thing about this year is everybody is in the building,” Pittman said. “So we can all have eyes on our kids and make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to do on and off the court. Coach T has some varsity experience and I think he is a great fit. He is organized, he has practice plans together and the kids respect him. I think he will be exactly what we need to push our JV program forward.” … The JV roster: sophomores Aiden Horton, Jayce Bentley, Cam Knox, Tate Helton, Palmer Thomason and Ian Patton; and freshmen Wyatt Harwood, Draeton Nance, Edarius Oliver, Carter Cornett, William Martin, Justin Haggler, Paxton Lewis, Weston Barefoot, Noah Dulin and Aiden Houser.