Northwood will host and compete in the Phenom 919 Showcase, a boys’ high school basketball event by Phenom Hoops featuring some of the best teams in the Triangle, from Dec. 20-21.
Phenom Hoops is a NCAA compliant scouting service that provides exposure for North Carolina’s high school basketball athletes and gives them opportunities to play in front of college coaches and scouts through its camps, tournaments and showcases.
According to Phenom Hoops president Rick Lewis, the other teams participating include Cardinal Gibbons, Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill, Garner, GRACE Christian (Raleigh), Holly Springs, Jordan, Leesville Road, New Hanover, Ravenscroft, Southern Wake Academy and Trinity Academy.
The Chargers will play two games in the 919 Showcase. They’ll face GRACE Christian on Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. and Holly Springs the next day at 7:30 p.m.
Both games should bring solid competition for a Northwood squad that isn’t a stranger to hosting unfamiliar, yet talented opponents. Last season, the Chargers hosted a star-studded Myers Park team in the middle of conference play and kept it a close game in the first half, but they couldn’t overcome the Mustangs’ explosive third quarter, despite outplaying Myers Park in the final period.
This year, Northwood will have more chances to defend its court against some of the state’s best.
In the 2023-24 season, GRACE Christian went 27-8 and reached the third round of the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 3A playoffs. The Eagles lost their leading scorer, Quasim Oden, to graduation, but they’ll return junior Michael Phillips Jr., a 6-foot-6 shooting guard who averaged 16.2 points and 6.4 rebounds a game last year.
Holly Springs, a 4A opponent in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, is also coming off a solid 2023-24 campaign in which it went 18-9 and lost in the first round of the state playoffs. Returning key pieces in Southeast Wake 4A conference player of the year Will James Jr., Josiah Currie and forward Jake Cackovic, the Golden Hawks added 6-foot-6 guard Kody Frey from Apex to its already loaded back court.
For fans in Chatham County looking to check out some high-level basketball outside of Northwood, there’s plenty of other interesting matchups on the showcase’s schedule.
New Hanover, last season’s NCHSAA 4A runner ups led by returning leading scorers Rodmik Allen and Nolan Billings, will face off against Jordan on Dec. 20 and GRACE Christian on Dec. 21.
Southern Wake Academy, one of last year’s best 1A teams and a conference foe of Chatham Charter and Woods Charter, will have a huge test against Cardinal Gibbons on Dec 21. Cardinal Gibbons, a 4A program, made it to the third round of the state playoffs last year and will be led by 6-foot-6 guard Trey Jones and 6-foot-8 forward Cash McSweeney.
Here’s the full schedule of the Phenom 919 Showcase:
Dec. 20
Leesville Road vs. Trinity Academy (5 p.m.); Jordan vs. New Hanover (6:30 p.m.); Northwood vs. GRACE Christian (8 p.m.)
Dec. 21
East Chapel Hill vs. Trinity Academy (noon); Chapel Hill vs. Ravenscroft (1:30 p.m.); Cardinal Gibbons vs. Southern Wake Academy (3 p.m.); Garner vs. Jordan (4:30 p.m.); New Hanover vs. GRACE Christian (6 p.m.); Northwood vs. Holly Springs (7:30 p.m.)