WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Sixty and counting.

Reidsville has its second straight N.C. High School Athletic Association 2A championship, running the state’s longest active winning streak to 60 as the 2024-25 boys basketball season concluded on Saturday night.

The Rams took control in the second half to defeat Northwood 71-54 in Saturday’s final at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum.

Reidsville is 86-1 — its only loss in the 2023 2A title — over the last three years.

Those are the years in which juniors Kendre Harrison and Dionte Neal arrived. They’ve won two straight titles after being denied as freshmen.

“It’s just been an unbelievable run,” Reidsville coach Jason Ross said.

Harrison had 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting with 11 rebounds, six blocks, and three steals.

“Kendre could’ve easily won MVP or Most Outstanding Player but you know, some things at the end of the game kind of overshadowed that. But you saw all this weekend what he was,” Ross said.

Ross was alluding to an incident after the game in which Harrison ran off the court and taunted the Northwood student section, using a belt as a prop. Players can be deemed ineligble for MVP by the NCHSAA after votes are tallied.

Instead, it was senior Johnniyus Sharpe (18 points, 7-of-16 shooting) getting the Charlie Adams MVP, given to the game’s top performer. Neal had 24 points (8-of-16 from the field, 7-of-9 free throws), with four assists to earn the West MVP.

Reidsville (31-0) led just 23-20 at halftime, but created separation in the third, taking a 44-30 lead into the fourth.

Northwood (30-3) was able to stay in the game thanks to a 1-3-1 zone that limited where the Rams could go with their ball movement.

Cam Fowler, who had 27 points, including 10-of-14 from the free throw line, and eight rebounds, led the way for the Chargers.

“I’m very happy with how we conducted ourselves on the basketball court tonight,” Northwood coach Matt Brown said.

In the second half, Reidsville got going while Northwood remained out of sync. The Rams scored 44 points in the paint and held Northwood to 18-of-50 shooting (36.0 percent) from the field.

“We started off slow, credit to Northwood. That 1-3-1 zone gave us a few problems as far as making shots,” Ross said. “But once we got our groove on at the end of that third quarter, it was lights out then.”

Reidsville’s 60 straight wins are not enough to be in the NCHSAA record book, which has only three teams listed and ends with 73. The state mark is 91.

Central Cabarrus’ streak of 65 was snapped earlier this season after winning 3A titles in 2023 and 2024.

This was the sixth appearance in the state championship for Northwood, which is still chasing its elusive first state title.

For Reidsville, it’s their sixth state championship overall.

On Thursday, top-seeded Reidsville defeated 15-seeded Bandys 79-50 in the 2A West regional final while third-seeded Northwood defeated fourth-seeded West Bladen 57-38 in the 2A 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: Beau Harvey from Northwood and Bryan Gwynn from Reidsville.

QUICK BOX SCORE

REID 9-14-21-19 71
NWD 9-11-10-20 54
Reidsville: Kendre Harrison 16, Dionte Neal 24, Kristian Scales 7, Johnniyus Sharpe 18, Cam’ron Jones 3, Savion Johnson 2
Northwood: Hayes Burleson 2, Isaiah Blair 6, Beau Harvey 13, Cam Fowler 27, Josiah Brown 3, Raje Torres, 2 Chad Graves 1