FAYETTEVILLE — Nich Carte says his Fayetteville teammates always tease him about working on his defense. Such is the life of a scorer.

That may have to change.

Carte had a key steal and lay-in, one of four steals on the evening, as Fayetteville withstood a late Valley run to advance to the Class A Region 3, Section 1 final with a 56-49 win Thursday night at the Memorial Building.

Oh yes, and Carte did what he does best. He had a career-tying 35 points.

“I thought about it a lot last night and today, and I didn’t want this to be the last time I put on the green and white jersey,” Carte said. “I wanted to do whatever I had to do to make sure we won this game.”

Valley trailed by 11 at the half but fought back with a full-court defense that perplexed the Pirates enough for the Greyhounds to get back in the game. Valley (13-5) finally took the lead at 40-39 at the outset of the fourth quarter on a basket by Cam Cochran.

The game was tied at 42 when Carte had a steal and basket before Andre Wright scored inside off a Cochran assist to again knot the score, this time at 44.

But a basket by Brandon Doyle started a 9-0 Pirate run, the final seven points from Carte, including a three and another steal and lay-in that made it 53-44.

Valley again fought back on a three by Wright and a lay-in by Jack Simms, making it 53-49. Simms was fouled on the play but missed the free throw. But Petey Foster got inside position but missed a putback that could have gotten Valley to within two.

Valley’s Dylan Gunnoe got a steal seconds later, but his drive to the basket was blocked by Michael Hernandez.

If that wasn’t enough, Carte, who was 13-of-16 at the free throw line, finally missed a free throw but Doyle got the rebound.

Carte closed it out with three free throws down the stretch.

“I still thought we had a chance with a minute left, but that putback (miss), the blocked shot, all that killed us,” Valley coach Joby Groom said. “And Carte was really on top of things. We knew he was a scorer. We couldn’t stop him.”

“Nich is a scorer,” Fayetteville coach Larry Spangler said. “But I thought his teammates did a good job getting him the ball and they set a lot of screens for him. And he stepped up and made a lot of big shots for us.”

 Carte had 15 points in the second quarter, including 13 in a row to end the half, as the Pirates took a 28-17 halftime lead. Valley had just four points in the second quarter.

Valley was led by Cochran’s 17 points, five steals and five rebounds.

Foster had 10 points and five rebounds and Wright added seven points and nine rebounds.

Hernandez added eight points, five assists and the big blocked shot.



Fayetteville 56, Valley 49

Valley (13-5)

Andre Wright 3 0-0 7, Jack Simms 4 1-3 9, Gordy Mitchell 1 0-0 3, Nick Acord 0 0-0 0, Dillon Ganoe 1 0-0 3, Petey Foster 4 2-2 10, Cameron Cochran 6 3-4 17. Totals: 19 6-9 49.

Fayetteville (10-6)

Nich Carte 10 13-16 35, MichaelAngelo Hernandez 4 0-1 0, Corey Goodman 2 1-2 5, Brandon Doyle 2 0-0 4, Dylan Young 1 0-0 2, Drew Weis 0 2-4 2. Totals: 19 16-23 56.

V    13    4    21    11    —    49

F    11    17    11    17    —    56

Three-point goals: V: 5 (Wright, Mitchell, Ganoe, Cochran 2); F: 2 (Carte 2); Fouled out: V: Cochran.