Ashe Mountain Times

Ashe County will host Maiden in the opening round of the state basketball playoffs Monday, the N.C. High School Athletic Association announced Saturday.

The Huskies (24-3) are scheduled to tip off against fourth-year head coach Doug Miller's Blue Devils (9-14) at 7 p.m. The threat of inclement weather could move game time as early as 6, or delay the contest. Follow http://www.ashemountaintimes.com for any changes.

The 2-A state bracket includes a Midwest and West pod, each composed of 16 seeded teams, inside the Western half of the 64-team field. Ashe is the top seed in the West pod, and Maiden is the 16th seed. With wins, Ashe would also host games Wednesday and Friday nights.

The Huskies are bidding to become the first basketball state champion from the county since Ashe Central's boys won the 2-A crown in 1965.

A low post matchup is expected between Ashe's 6-foot-8 Zeb Richardson and Maiden's Matt Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 215-pounder who has signed to play football at UNC Charlotte. Richardson is the Mountain Valley Conference's Player of the Year and possesses the school single-season block record while averaging double figures in points and rebounds.

Johnson, a quarterback and punter on the football field, was football offensive Player of the Year in the Catawba Valley Conference. He's also state president of the Beta Club.

“They've got a 6-3 to 6-4 kid going to Charlotte, so they'll have somebody to push Zeb around a little bit,” Ashe head coach Marc Payne said Saturday afternoon before his team practiced.

The Blue Devils have been off since Monday following a 59-33 loss to Newton-Conover in the Catawba Valley tournament quarterfinals. Ashe played three games this past week, beating West Wilkes and Alleghany on consecutive nights before falling 54-51 to Wilkes Central in the Mountain Valley tournament finals Friday night.

In the remainder of Ashe's quarter of the 2-A bracket:

• Monday's Ashe-Maiden winner plays the winner of eighth-seeded Shelby (17-6) and ninth-seeded Canton Pisgah (21-6) on Wednesday at the higher seed. Shelby was the third-place team from the 3-A/2-A South Mountain Conference, which included Freedom (23-2, a No. 1 seed in the 3-A West pod) and last year's 2-A state champion East Rutherford (22-4, a No. 2 seed in the 2-A West pod).

• Fourth-seeded Lincolnton hosts 13th-seeded North Henderson, with the winner to meet the survivor of fifth-seeded West Caldwell (17-6) and 12th-seeded Newton-Conover. Ashe, if a winner Monday and Wednesday, would host that game Friday night.

“Shelby plays out of a really good league,” Payne said. “They won a state title in 2009. And Lincolnton is real talented.”

Ashe would have played Shelby in the 2009 regional final but was denied by East Lincoln in the regional semifinals. Lincolnton's football team was a state runner-up this past fall.

The seeded pods this season replaced the traditional “sectional” designation in the brackets. Two teams from each pod advance to the Western Regional in Greensboro next week, where the West and Midwest pod winners will play in the regional final for the right to go to the state championship game (Reynolds Coliseum, Saturday, March 10).

Unlike past years, the regional is not reseeded.

The following are pairings for MVC teams:

CLASS 2-A BOYS

West pod

No. 1 seed Ashe County hosts No. 16 Maiden

No. 7 Wilkes Central hosts No. 10 East Burke

Midwest pod

No. 9 Starmount at No. 8 Central Davidson

CLASS 1-A BOYS

West pod

No. 4 Alleghany hosts No. 13 Cherokee

Midwest pod

No. 8 Elkin hosts No. 9 River Mill Academy

No. 12 North Wilkes at No. 5 South Stokes

CLASS 2-A GIRLS

West pod

No. 1 Wilkes Central hosts No. 16 Surry Central

Midwest pod

No. 9 Starmount at No. 8 Carver

No. 11 Forbush at No. 6 West Stokes

CLASS 1-A GIRLS

West pod

No. 5 North Wilkes hosts No. 12 Blue Ridge

No. 10 West Wilkes at No. 7 Highland Tech

Midwest pod

No. 6 East Wilkes hosts No. 11 North Moore

No. 15 Elkin at No. 2 Mount Airy