Perry Tyndall doesn’t act out often, but he let loose in the locker room on Friday night.
Call it what you want — the Waltz, a jig, the not-so-Harlem Shake — but Tyndall’s version of a celebratory dance is exactly why his Kinston boys basketball team and coach Hubert Quinerly’s girls team are two wins away from playing for a state 2A title.
Simply put, there is no panic in either squad. The three Cs describe them both: Calm, cool and collected.
Kinston’s girls hadn’t played on the road against a team with lofty credentials since the last week of December, yet the third-seeded Vikings traveled to No. 2 Pittsboro Northwood on Friday and knocked off a team many had said could win a state title, 65-57, and withstood a late rally to do it.
The Chargers used a late 8-0 run to get to within four which forced Quinerly to call a timeout, thinking he needed to settle down his squad. Nope. They looked at each other and without saying a word knew what they needed to do.
Friday’s eight-point win was the closest margin of victory for the Vikings (24-4) since they won at Greene Central 61-54 on Feb. 8.
“They just have that look in their eyes,” Quinerly said during Monday’s Eastern Regionals press conference. “They want this, and they know what it takes to get it.”
The same can be said for the boys, who, after having been to the regionals the six seasons previously, act like they’ve never played in a regionals tournament before.
“We don’t want this feeling to ever get old,” senior guard Josh Dawson said following Friday’s 60-44 win over Elizabeth City Northeastern. “We just stay hungry and take it one game at a time.”
That’s the amazing part in all of this — Kinston still takes things one game at a time.
The boys, making their much-documented seventh consecutive trip to the regionals, have lost only 26 times in their last 214 games since the current run of success began with the 2006-07 season. Folks, that’s winning almost 88 percent of the time.
The girls, here for the third year in a row, have won 73 of their last 86 games for a win percentage of 85.
The odds always seem to be in Kinston’s favor. But don’t tell that to its coaches.
“People just expect you to make it this far. I’ve already had some ask me when the state championship is, and we haven’t even played in the regionals yet,” Tyndall said. “When you’ve been fortunate to have the kind of success we’ve had, fans think it is, but it’s not easy to get here.”
It’s not easy.
No, it’s really not. All it takes is one off night from the 3-point line, or one night where fouls seem to pile up like pollen on an early April day. But Kinston’s boys and girls teams are here, again, because they view the game of basketball like the world’s best golfers view a 72-hole tournament — one stroke at a time.
That’s why Tyndall cut a rug on Friday. It’s what has yet to be gained that is the most important. In this case, it’s this year’s state championships.
Ryan Herman’s column appears in The Free Press on Wednesdays. Reach him at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.