Farmville Central headed to Graham championship after blitzing past Millbrook

RALEIGH -- That little school in Eastern North Carolina with the proud basketball tradition is going to be playing for a John Wall Holiday Invitational championship on Friday.

Farmville Central, with -- by far -- the smallest student base of any of the public schools in the 2022 Holiday Invitational, defeated Raleigh Millbrook, 76-64, in the semifinals of the Devonte Graham bracket Thursday night. They will face a national powerhouse in Friday's championship game when they take on undefeated Don Bosco Prep (6-0) out of Ramsey, N.J., at 8 p.m. at Raleigh Broughton's Holliday Gymnasium.

Farmville Central has less than 800 students attending the NCHSAA 2A school while Millbrook, which is in the 4A ranks in North Carolina, has more than 2,350. That made no difference in Thursday's Graham semifinal as the Jaguars (10-0) ran out to an 18-15 lead after one quarter and a 34-28 lead at halftime and didn't look back.

The Jaguars were led by five players in double digits -- Jayden Pitt and Mykal Williams with 18 points each, Jah Short with 16 and J.D. Daniels with 14.

Millbrook, which fell to 7-4, was paced by Colt Langdon's 22 points. Jayan Walker had 17 points and Gabe Cerda added 16.