Here are some of the best boys’ high school basketball performances in the past 40 years

There have been a lot of boys’ basketball games and rising stars in The Charlotte Observer’s coverage area since The Sweet 16 poll began 40 years ago.

In order to make our list of the top 10 individual performances by a Mecklenburg County player, the game had to be seen by an Observer reporter and chronicled by the media outlet.

(1) Jason Parker, West Charlotte, March 13, 1999: The Friday before the 4A state championship game, Parker was in a hotel room, sweating and shaking with flu-like symptoms. But there was no way he wouldn’t play in the state final against Wilmington’s Laney High School.

“I’d have to get hit by a bus or something,” he said. “There was nothing that was going to stop me.”

Laney, absolutely, could not.

Parker scored the most points any 4A player had scored in a state final at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, stringing together a 38-point, 12-rebound, four-block, five-dunk performance that stands as one of the best by a Mecklenburg County player, and not just in the past 40 years.

Later that spring, Parker was named Observer regional player of the year, state player of the year and was one of 43 players nationally named to the Parade All-American team.

“Jason didn’t say much in practice (that) week,” former West Charlotte coach Gosnell “Rusty” White said, “so I felt sorry for Wilmington.”

(2) Ian Miller, United Faith, Feb. 28, 2009: Miller, then a junior, had 33 points in the NCISAA 1A quarterfinals and 24 in the semifinals, but he saved his best performance for last.

Playing against a future NBA No. 1 overall draft pick, soon-to-be Kentucky point guard John Wall, and nationally ranked Raleigh Word of God, Miller drilled a 40-foot jump shot at the buzzer for a 56-53 win in the championship game. Miller finished with 23 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Before the big shot, United Faith coach Shaun Wiseman drew up a play called “Spartanburg,” but his players could barely hear him. There were 2.7 seconds left. The ball was near half court and Falcons team chaplain Louie Sorentino was yelling, “Destiny! This is our destiny!” And it was. Senior Blake Smith passed to Miller, who was standing out past the volleyball line. Miller’s shot was deep, pretty and pure.

“Ian’s just up there with some of the best I’ve seen at this level,” said then United Faith assistant and former Charlotte Hornets great Muggsy Bogues. “I’ve just not seen anybody who can do what he does, and that’s not just me being on his team. That’s being real.”

(3) Isaiah Evans, North Mecklenburg, March 8, 2024: Tickets to North Meck’s 4A state quarterfinal at Myers Park sold out in less than a minute the morning of the game. Myers Park, the defending state champion, was ranked as high as No. 4 in America. Evans had recently been announced as a McDonald’s All-American. These were the state’s two best teams.

Myers Park was also generally considered the state’s best defensive team and the Mustangs had confounded Evans in a state semifinal matchup a year before. But in North Meck’s 79-63 win at Myers Park in the rematch, Evans scored 21 of his 48 points in the third quarter. He had 35 in the second half and would eventually lead the Vikings to their third state title.

“This is what we work for,” Evans said. “These moments right here. We spend hours in the weight room, hours in practice running over drills, sets. This is what the game comes down to.”

(4) Isaiah Evans, North Mecklenburg, Feb. 28, 2023: Earlier in his junior season, Evans had lit up arch rival Chambers for 45 points,which included a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win.

The teams met again in the 4A quarterfinals, on a night when Kevin Durant drew national headlines for attending a game at Myers Park. Across the county in Huntersville, Evans made two 3-point shots, each to force an overtime, before finally leading North Meck to a 105-92 win.

Evans finished with a school-record 62 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. It was the second-highest scoring total in Mecklenburg County history.

(5) Jamie Skeen, North Mecklenburg, March 3, 2005: This was the year that the Vikings would go onto the win the first state championship in school history with the best team in school history, and Skeen was at the center of it all. He had 35 points, six rebounds, six blocks and three steals in an 89-65 4A Western Regional semifinal win against North Forsyth.

At the time, that was a regional record for a Mecklenburg County player. Skeen — who had tied Bray Pemberton’s school record of 52 points in a game in 2005 — was 9-of-9 shooting in the first half against North Forsyth in Winston-Salem’s Joel Coliseum. Skeen had committed to Wake Forest a few weeks before the game.

“Jamie knew he had to put on a show and let people know what they’re going to be getting in two years,” North Meck’s Michael Laney said. “The monster was unleashed tonight.”

(6) Trey Wertz, Providence Day, Feb. 20, 2016: In the 2015-16 season, High Point Christian was seen as the best team in North Carolina. It was ranked among the nation’s top 10 and had 10 Division I recruits including a future NBA All-Star in center Bam Adebayo.

Providence Day beat High Point twice.

In November 2015, Wertz, then a sophomore, scored 14 of his team-high 22 points in the second half of a 76-66 upset in front of a standing room only crowd at Myers Park High. In the NCISAA 3A state finals, a few months later, future McDonald’s All-American point guard Devon Dotson got in foul trouble and eventually fouled out. Wertz moved over from his shooting guard spot to point guard and had a game-high 25 points, six rebounds and six assists. Providence Day won its 20th straight game.

(7) Jeff McInnis, West Charlotte, March 23, 1991: Before the 1990-91 season, the Lions lost Observer player of the year Junior Burrough and star wing Dwayne Forte to Virginia’s Oak Hill. So West Charlotte was led by two sophomores: McInnis (22 ppg, 6.0 apg) and Thad Bonapart (17 ppg, 12 rpg). Behind those two, West Charlotte beat East Wake 61-44 in the 4A state final.

McInnis (20 points, five rebounds, three steals) was championship game MVP (he was also western regional MVP) and Bonapart had 15 points and 10 rebounds. And McInnis simply wouldn’t let his team lose, dominating the game on offense and defense.

“We started talking to them in the second half,” McInnis said. “We told them that they didn’t want it bad enough. They didn’t say anything back. We knew then that they were scared.”

McInnis, who averaged 22 points and six assists for the Lions that season, announced he was transferring to Oak Hill just three months later, eventually becoming a McDonald’s All-American, a star at North Carolina and a longtime NBA player.

(8) Steven Santa Ana, Ardrey Kell, March 14, 2015: In the 4A Western Regional championship game, one week before states, Santa Ana hit a game-winning corner 3-pointer to beat West Charlotte on a play called “Hips.” He scored 43 points in two regional games.

But he would top that in his next one.

The Knights lost to Garner 70-64 in the 4A state final at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill. But not before Santa Ana scored 33 points in the second half and finished with 44 points and eight rebounds, nearly leading his team from 18 points back. It was the most points in a championship game since the NCHSAA moved the finals back to college campuses in 1986.

“Man, 44 and 8 in a state championship game,” Ardrey Kell coach Mike Craft said. “Guys, that’s an ACC caliber player. It’s amazing. It’s phenomenal.”

(9) Cam Hamilton, Chambers, Feb. 21, 2017: Leon Zeigler had 42 points for Richmond Senior in a 123-118 against Chambers in a playoff game. But, even in victory, Zeigler was not the story.

Chambers’ guard Cam Hamilton, playing his final home game, made 25 of 40 field goal attempts and 6 of 10 3-point attempts. He finished with a Mecklenburg County boys’ record 63 points to go with nine rebounds, five steals and three assists. He broke a 16-year-old county record of 53 points set by Providence Day’s Taylor Mokris.

Hamilton’s 25 made field goals tied a state-record and he was just four points short of the state single-game scoring record of 67 set by Clayton’s Bob Poole.

(10) George Leach, Olympic, Jan. 6, 1999: In a 52-42 win against Myers Park, Leach blocked 19 shots to set a new state record. His blocks were one short of the national mark.

Leach, a 6-10 center, signed with Indiana in 1999. He had 22 points, six rebounds and four dunks in the annual Indiana All-Star game in May of that same year. The game matched Hoosiers’ recruits against a team of U.S. high school all-stars.