WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The legend of R.J. Moore was born on Friday.

The sophomore’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A boys basketball championship game 58-55 over Southern Wake capped off an MVP performance.

It also snapped Corvian Community out of deja vu just in time.

Instead of falling in the state title for a second straight year, they came away the victors at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum.

Corvian Community (25-7) called timeout with less than 15 seconds in overtime and isolated Moore near midcourt. He launched a contested 3 from just inside the college 3-point line and it rattled in as the buzzer went off to defeat at Southern Wake (29-5) team they had chased for most of the afternoon.

Coach Ron Murphy said he didn’t want to necessarily hold the ball for the last shot with almost a minute left, but his players convinced him in the huddle. The Cardinals still had two timeouts if something was going wrong. When Corvian was trapped near its own bench, Murphy burned one timeout to set up Moore’s heroics.

“We had the screen set up for me, it didn’t go as planned but we got the ball in bounds. I ended up getting it back and just used my confidence and shot the ball,” Moore said.

Moore, a super sophomore, had a game-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-7 from 3, with nine rebounds. He was awarded Charlie Adams MVP honors — a full redemption from last year, when he had played well but committed a foul with less than a second left that led to the game-winning points for Wilson Prep.

“I always have confidence, that’s just how I play,” Moore said. “Last year was a tough loss for us and I feel like today we had to give our all at the game.”

In the fourth quarter, Southern Wake led by seven with 5:59 to play, but Corvian answered time and again, taking the lead on an Moore coast-to-coast layup give his team a 51-49 lead with 1:10 left, which was answered by Southern Wake’s Kobe Plata, who drew a shooting foul on the other end with 1:01 left and made both.

Plata scored a team-high 19 points to earn East MVP honors.

The two did that again in the final minute, with Moore’s driving layup — though he missed the ensuing free throw — answered by Plata. It was 53-all with 26.7 seconds to go.

Corvian and Southern Wake each had a shot in the final seconds of regulation — Corvian from the low block and Southern Wake an ensuing desperation 3 — but neither landed.

Southern Wake’s lead even got as high as 10 in the third, but it was tied with 30.8 seconds left in the period on Moore’s stepback 3-pointer. Bryan Epperson answered with a jumper at the buzzer to give Southern Wake a slim 40-38 lead going into the fourth.

The first half also featured a wild swing — but it was between quarters instead of during.

Moore made his first four 3-pointers of the game. He scored nine of Corvian’s points in the first quarter as the Cardinals took a 13-11 lead. But the Lions turned things up defensively in the second quarter thanks to halfcourt traps and a 2-1-2 zone that cut off ball movement. Moore didn’t take a single shot in the second quarter.

“It made them throw over us,” Southern Wake coach Quintin Austin said. He added that Corvian adjusted by putting Moore on the wing, which caused them to leave it in the third.

A 3-pointer from Corvian Community’s Malachi McCutcheon cut into the Southern Wake lead, 28-21 at halftime.

McCutcheon had 15 points to earn West MVP honors.

Southern Wake shot 50 percent for the game and Corvian shot 44.9 percent, including 53.8 from 3.

It was Southern Wake’s first appearance in a championship game in any sport and Corvian’s first title in program history.

For Austin, he hopes that Southern Wake can take this year’s close runner-up finish and translate it into a title the same way Corvian did from a year ago.

“They experienced (last year) what we just experienced,” Austin said. “I hope we’re back next year.”

Fifth-seeded Corvian defeated third-seeded Queen’s Grant 75-44 in the 1A West regional final while second-seeded Southern Wake handled top-seeded Washington County 70-56 in the 1A East regional final. Those games were also at “the Joel” as part of the final four format.

Before the game, each team honored its sportsmanship award winner for the season: Seung Surmons from Southern Wake and DeMarkus Milton from Corvian Community.

BOX SCORE
CORV 13-8-17-15-5 58
SWA 11-17-12-13-2 55

Corvian Community: Adrian Scott 3, R.J. Moore 26, Malachi McCutcheon 15, DeMarkus Milton 5, A.J. Jackson 9
Southern Wake: Ira Wilson 8, Kobe Plata 19, Seung Surmons 9, Jeremiah Henson 2, Bryan Epperson 15, Broderick Barnes 2