By Richard Taylor
After clinching the Atlantic 1A regular season conference title earlier last week, Ocracoke’s varsity basketball team avenged last year’s one-point tournament loss to arch-rival Bear Grass Charter with a decisive 61-42 tournament victory over the Bears Friday night in Columbia.
With its 8-1 conference leading regular season record, eighth-seeded Ocracoke gets home-court advantage to play 25th seed East Bladen in the first round of the East 1A playoffs Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Tank.
If the Dolphins win, they retain home court to face the North Duplin vs. Tarboro winner in the second round Thursday.
Ocracoke’s only conference loss this season to Bear Grass away, 79-66, on Feb. 9. Friday’s final mostly mirrored last year’s season, where the Dolphins beat the Bears home and away, with no other conference losses.
Even though the Dolphin’s powerful, 6’ 5” center Rahnier “Shack-anier” Lyons fouled out early in the fourth period with only seven points, junior guards Landon Fuller and Gavin Elicker filled the gap with 20 and 19 points respectively. Point guard Fuller and Lyons are co-captains and consistently top scorers, followed by Finn Kattenburg.
In their first meeting this season, The Dolphins downed the Bears 74-44 at home on Jan. 19. Bear Grass returned the favor, overcoming Ocracoke 79-66 in Martin County Feb. 9. Bear Grass took last year’s tournament title, 37-36, in a season which saw the Dolphins beat the Bears in both regular season matches. In years past, Bear Grass has been dominant in the Atlantic 1A conference.
As Ocracoke’s big-man, Lyons often scored with his signature under-the-basket spin move lay-ins, besides pulling down many defense rebounds under the opponents’ basket. Fuller regularly swished 3-pointers from the baseline or outside the 3-point arc at Columbia.
In the Feb. 21 tournament semi-final home game against Columbia, the Dolphins racked up 16 points before the Wildcats could even score in the first period, mostly on 3-pointers from Fuller and guards Danny Badillo, Gavin Elicker and Finn Kattenburg.
When a combination of high tide, a full moon and continuing seaside overwash on N.C. 12 north of the Pony Pens made off-island travel via the Hatteras ferry precarious, Ocracoke Island Realty came to the rescue and put the team up in Nags Head motel rooms Thursday night before their title game against Bear Grass in Columbia. That generous gesture meant the team had only a “short” two-hour bus ride to Columbia, keeping the Dolphins fresh for Friday night’s title match.
On Ocracoke School’s Facebook page Friday, Principal Jeanie Owens thanked the realty company. “With today’s weather, the team decided to get off the island last night. OIR made sure the kids, coaches, and drivers had comfy hotel rooms waiting for them in Nags Head,” she said. “We couldn’t ask for a more supportive community!”
Dare County helped as well, arranging for the Dolphins to warm-up Friday at the Outer Banks Family YMCA in Nags Head before traveling to play Bear Grass in Columbia that evening.
“I’m so proud of my team,” said Dolphins fourth-year head coach Frank Moore, in an interview from the Swan Quarter ferry. “These kids have put in three years of hard work. I keep telling them the harder you work, the more success you’ll have. And they did just about everything I asked of them, and they got their reward Friday night. Rahnier is really going to be the one that I miss.”
Moore feels his team played extremely well under pressure in their third meeting against the Bears this season. “We made the shots we needed to offensively,” he said. “We got a lot of fast breaks. We ran the ball well in transition and that was huge. But our defense was key. We played as hard on the defensive end as we have all year.”
The coach said Ocracoke’s heart-stopping single-point championship loss to Bear Grass Charter last year and the Bears’ home victory Feb. 9 were motivating factors in the Dolphins domination at Friday night’s title game. “These kids remembered those games,” he said.
Former Ocracoke Athletic Director Adam Burleson recruited Moore from Maryland after Hurricane Dorian in 2019. After a dismal first year, Moore has led his charges to the league championship game two years in a row.
Lyons was upset with himself for picking up his fourth foul late in the third period Friday.
“But I was not disappointed with Coach Frank for taking me out with four fouls,” he said afterwards.
Even with four fouls, Moore still put Lyons back into play early in the fourth period for his defensive rebounding prowess. Lyons subsequently fouled out two minutes into the fourth period.
“I’m really grateful the team was able to pick up the slack when I left on the court,” Lyons said. “They had my back.”
Lyons regularly excites Ocracoke fans with his legendary spin-moves under the offensive basket.
“It’s all about getting someone’s feet in the position that leaves the least coverage on me,” he said. “That spin move is really my go-to for drives or normal post moves. It works 90% of the time.”
Was the senior concerned about playing Bear Grass for the third time this year? “No, not all,” he said. “We beat them the first game (on Jan. 19) by a lot.”
Lyons was among many locals who thought Ocracoke got a raw deal from the officials in their disappointing 79-66 away loss to Bear Grass Feb. 9. “We felt like the refs really did us dirty in that game,” he said. “But we got ‘em back this time and we’re happy about that.”
After Ocracoke, Lyons hopes to get an offer to play college ball somewhere.
“If I can’t do that, I’d like to attend Appalachian State for hospitality management,” he said.
New game announcers
Ocracoke Athletic Director Mary McKnight and Leslie Cole, recently retired principal, called the game broadcast on WOVV 90.1 FM.
While waiting for the boys’ championship game to start after the Bear Grass-Hatteras girls’ title game, McKnight quipped, “Miss Leslie, there are some fans asking if you’ll be sweeping the floor between games tonight.”
“I’m just here to watch the game, but I’d be happy to help out if asked,” Cole said. As for as her guest commentary role on WOVV, Cole said,” I’m not sure what I can add (to McKnight’s play-by-play call), but I’ll do what I can.”
By the second half, Cole hit her stride and began describing Dolphin players passing the ball down the court, or on in-bound plays. Cole’s husband Bill is former WOVV “Voice of the Dolphins.”
Lady Dolphins
This was a rebuilding season for Coash Meredith Wynn’s Lady Dolphins. With only seven players dressed, the girls won two non-conference games, while going 0-8 in conference.
But they never gave up. When Ocracoke was down to four players due to fouls once, Mattamuskeet pulled a player to even up the sides. Senior Marilyn Monter and freshman Jami Martinez were leading scorers.
The Bear Grass Lady Bears, 10-0 in conference, easily won their championship game in Friday night’s first game, trouncing second place Cape Hatteras, 62-26. Hurricane senior point guard Alissa Bryan, a former Dolphin, now plays for the Hurricanes.
The 27th seeded Columbia boys play at 4th seeded West Columbus Tuesday. The Bear Grass boys did not make the state playoffs this year, while the Lady Bears did.
