Cannon Wins NCISAA 4A State Championship
Cannon 71 Charlotte Latin 69
Cannon’s head coach Che Roth challenged his youthful team by playing a tough, grind it out type schedule. Entering the NCSIAA 4A state championship, Cannon brought a 26-6 record with loses to state, regional and national powers on their schedule. They lost two heartbreaking games by one point each to Greensboro Day and Piedmont Classical at Phenom’s Gate City Classic, both games where they led only to lose on last second shots. While Cannon has a young team, they are not short on talent. They feature 6’3 super sophomore Jaden “Smooth” Bradley, 6’6 sophomore DJ Nix, 6’4 junior Jarvis Moss, 6’7 junior Elijah Ormiston, lone starting senior 5’11 Jaylen Dibble, not to mention 7’0 sophomore Christian Reeves.
Playing on the home court of Charlotte Latin, this championship was jammed pack, well played, fun, exciting, and the final outcome was not determined until the final buzzer sounded. Trailing 71-69, Charlotte Latin had a chance at a game winning 3-pointer, a rebound and another attempt to tie the game. That being said, Charlotte Latin ran short on time, but not on effort. It was the type of game as a pure basketball fan, that you seriously wanted both coaches to win.
For coach Che Roth, we have stated repeatedly, he is building something special at Cannon. He has a talented roster with Bradley, Nix, Moss, Ormiston, and Reeves, who all return. More importantly, they have done things the right way. They are a fun team to watch, they play together, have a bright future, and should be the odds-on favorite to repeat as state champions, not to mention they will also be in the conversation as one of the country’s top 25 teams. As coach Roth would say, they have “earned it” by hard work and playing a difficult schedule to help prepare them for this moment.
6’3 2022 Jaden Bradley (Cannon)
Jaden Bradley is just a special point guard and may just be one of the best pure point guards I’ve watched at the high school level in the past ten years. Teammates love playing with him because he is team oriented, unselfish and is just as happy making the assist as scoring. He is poised and mature beyond his years and remain one of the humblest players we have watched in quite some time. Bradley finished with a team high 27 points, but for a player of his caliber rarely gets little to zero calls from the officials. He only went to the free throw line one time which is surprising since he is constantly attacking and drawing contact.
6’0 2020 Randy Johnson (Charlotte Latin)
Randy Johnson was simply sensational. Although, he is right-handed, Johnson prefers going left. That being said, he is crafty with the dribble and although the defense knows he is going left, he continues to get to his spots, either scoring off the dribble drive or forcing contact where he goes to the free throw line often. Johnson scored a game high 38 points, including four 3-pointers and went an efficient 12-13 from the free throw line. The Holy Cross signee had a game of a lifetime and his poise, maturity, and overall performance will long be remembered as one of the best in a state championship game.
6’4 2021 Jarvis Moss (Cannon)
Jarvis Moss takes what the defense gives him. He plays extremely well within the system and is the perfect complement to his Jaden Bradley. Moss finished with 20 points, but connected on 8-10 free throws in the second half, not to mention knocking down 6-8 in the final quarter. Moss collected key rebounds, defended, and was cool, calm and collective in the final minutes.
6’8 2021 Elijah Ormiston (Cannon)
It was another “double double” performance by Ormiston. He had 14 points and double-digit rebounds. One thing is for certain, if there’s a loose ball, you can always count on Ormiston to dive on the floor and get his hands on the ball. He brings effort and energy and is without question, the team’s glue guy.
6’5 2022 Graham Calton (Charlotte Latin)
It was another solid performance by the 6’5 wing. Calton brings a steady effort of intangibles to the table and what’s not to like about a fundamentally sound, high IQ player that can make shots, free throw and make all the right reads during the course of the game. Calton finished with 14 points and will be looked upon next season as the team’s “go to” player.