What we know about basketball with a month to go

Here we are in late January and the winter sports season his hitting the homestretch. In a little less than one moth, the conference tournament championship games will be contested. In the last week or so, all four area conferences hit their halfway points. Though nothing's set in stone, since everyone's played everybody, we should have good read on how the next month is going to play out. Here's what we know. In the Tri-Eight, Panther Creek as clearly asserted itself as the boys' team to beat. The Catamounts are 16-1 overall, 7-0 in the Tri-Eight. They went on the road and beat previously undefeated Athens Drive by nine, then beat Middle Creek a week later at home by 12. Panther Creek has won its seven Tri-Eight games by an average of 14.6 points per. Interestingly, Green Hope (6-11, 2-5) played the Catamounts the closest (four points), and Lee County (1-6, 4-10) held them to their lowest point total of the season (47). Earnest Ross has been sensational all season (19.6 ppg), but if Marques Oliver continues to play as well as he has in the last week (21.3 ppg) then it's going to be tough to slow down Panther Creek. On the girls' side, the league race is going to come down to Apex or Athens Drive, and it'll likely be settled when the two play each other on Friday night in Raleigh. Apex is a 14-0 (7-0), while Athens is 14-3 (6-1). Apex won the first meeting 50-47. Apex won its other six Tri-Eight games by 10, 20, 30, 34, 50 and 56 points. Athens won its six other Tri-Eight games by 32, 36, 53, 48, 20 and 16 points. If Apex wins this Friday, that would equate to a three-game lead over the Jaguars (two head-to-head wins, plus Apex owns the tiebreaker by virtue of that 2-0 record against). If Athens Drive wins, then the Cougars and Jaguars will likely share the Tri-Eight title. In the Cap 7 boys' race, Enloe has the inside track to its first title since it joined the league in 2005-06. The Eagles (17-1, 6-0) won their first six games by 12.8 points per. Prior to last week's four-point win over Millbrook, where the Eagles led by as many as 16, Enloe's closest Cap 7 contest was an eight-point win over Leesville Road back on Dec. 12. But, as coach Tommy Moore cautioned after the win over Millbrook, the Eagles' title is not a foregone conclusion. Though they can't take anyone lightly, the only team that could catch them is Millbrook. The two will play at Millbrook on the final night of the regular season. Enloe will (likely) be playing for the league title, while Millbrook will (likely) be looking to force a tie. The thing that sticks out most about Enloe is the balanced scoring. The Eagles have had six different players lead the team in scoring in their 18 games, and the starting five averages between 7.6 and 15.1 ppg, with forward Melvin Tabb leading the way. On the girls' side, once again, it's Wakefield's to lose. The Wolverines have won the last three Cap 7 regular-season titles (they also shared the 2005 title with Broughton). Wakefield has one of the best offenses (61.4 ppg) and defenses (36.4 ppg) in the area. When Wakefield returns to the court Friday against Sanderson, the Wolverines do so having won 54 straight conference games. Broughton was the only team in Cap 7 to remotely challenge Wakefield, and the Wolverines still won comfortably (42-34). The Wolverines won their other five Cap 7 games by 23, 24, 39, 20 and 38 points. They have one of the best low post players in the Triangle in Kelsey Evans and her 19.2 ppg, and three other players average better than 8.0 ppg (Sarah Wollett, Brittany Christian and Kayla Harris). The Wolverines will stroll through the next five games, but they're not going to have it easy when the face Broughton at Holliday Gym on Feb. 10. The Cap 7 will be decided that night, and both teams are going to look to put on a much better display than their dreadful run-around last week, when both teams played as poorly as possible. Given the stakes of the next game, expect both to be at the top of their games. In the Greater Neuse boys' race, there is some actual intrigue with Clayton, Garner and Knightdale in a three-way tie at 6-1. One of those three teams will come away with the league title since the rest of the conference's five teams are all under .500. Clayton beat Knightdale 61-60 in overtime in Clayton, Garner beat Clayton 64-55 in Garner, and Knightdale beat Garner 92-67 in Knightdale. That being said, whoever is going to win the league will have to do so on the road. Garner (2-4 on the road) plays at Clayton (6-1 at home) next Tuesday. Knightdale (5-4 on the road) goes to Garner (5-2 at home) on Jan. 30, and Clayton (5-1 on the road) plays at Knightdale (5-0 at home) on Feb. 10. I haven't seen Clayton play, but I don't trust the Comets to come out on top based on the comparison between what they did against the rest of the league versus what Garner and Knightdale did. Clayton won its six games by an average of 11.5 ppg, with four wins by one, five, five and eight points. With that in mind, it's plausible that anyone else in the league could clip Clayton. Garner won its six games by an average of 24.5 ppg, and its closest win was by 11 points. Knightdale won its six games by an average of 35.0 ppg, and its closest win was by 22 points. The gap between those two and the rest of league seems too wide for anyone to close in the next month. Given how Knightdale whipped Garner in the first meeting (92-67) and given how the Knights' only loss was by one point in overtime at Clayton, expect Knightdale to come out on top in the end. The Knights have the second best offense (68.5 ppg) and the second best defense (54.3 ppg) in the league, and they have arguably the league's best player, Stan Okoye (19.9 ppg), though Garner's Demetrius Upchurch (17.2 ppg) deserves to be in that conversation. As much intrigue as there is in the boys' race, there is that little on the girls' side. Southeast Raleigh has cruised to a 7-0 start, winning those games by 19, 10, 20, 9, 18, 19 and 50 points. Guard Lakevia Boykin is among the best in the area, as her 20.8 ppg attests. The Bulldogs have won three straight (a win streak that would be at 12 had they not given away a nine-point fourth-quarter lead to Hoggard and then been outscored 26-11 in the fourth quarter and overtime), and given the dominance over the rest of the league, a loss before the end of the regular season seems rather unlikely. In the PAC 6, Hillside's boys' and girls' lead at the halfway point. Though in first-place at 6-1, the boys haven't dominated the league by any means. The Hornets won their six conference games by 10.0 points per, but that number is skewed by a 12-point win over East Chapel Hill and a 28-point win over Chapel Hill. Hillside's other four wins were by four, five, five and six points. Though the Hornets don't score in bunches (56.0 ppg), they have incredible balance — four players averaging 9.2 ppg or more — and strong defense (52.6 ppg allowed). Damonte Harris gives them a bona fide inside presence, while guards Brandon Henderson and Rashaad Sneed are pesky on the perimeter. Their one loss — 79-65 at Jordan on Dec. 16 — is a bit of eye-opener, but they've won six of seven since and they've been playing (and winning) in close games all season. They have a chance to wrap up the title as early as next week. Hillside can avenge its loss to Jordan on Tuesday, and then put some additional distance between itself and second-place Riverside on Jan. 30. On the girls' side, the Hornets (7-0) have steamrolled the league, winning their seven games by 20, 39, 24, 29, 31, 28 and 10 points. Second-place Northern Durham (5-1) posed the only threat to date, and Hillside still won the first meeting, at Northern, by double digits. Contact Tim Candon at 821-8697 or tcandon@wral.com.