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GREENSBORO — Julius Brooks and A.J. Finney scored 19 points apiece to lead the Page Pirates past the North Forsyth Vikings 69-53 in a second-round playoff game Wednesday night.

In the final seconds of the first quarter, Gerry Hairston hit a three to give the Vikings a 14-11 lead. But the Pirates (22-6) went on a 12-0 run, started by a dunk by Brooks and capped by a foul-line jumper and a left-corner three by Finney.

"We got a little bit of confidence, I think," Page coach Robert Kent said of the run. "A.J. Finney did a great job hitting some shots. Julius and Jordan (Weethee) did a great job on the boards. I thought we played well and did what we needed to do."

Weethee hit back-to-back threes in the run and finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Brooks pulled down a game-high 15 boards.

The Vikings rallied to cut the deficit to four points at halftime, but the Pirates blew them out in the third quarter. North Forsyth switched out of its zone and Brooks had his way down low, scoring 11 points in the quarter.

Page closed the period with a 14-2 run and North Forsyth never threatened again. The Vikings (19-9) shot lights out during pre-game warmups but found things a little more difficult once the game started.
The Pirates' three-guard offense of Finney, Mitchell Oates and Stacey Greene did a good job on both sides of the ball.

"I thought they played well," Kent said of his guards. "Mitch didn't score as much as normal but he controlled the ball and defended well. Stacey did a good job of defending (Kameko Walls) and he hit a few threes, too."
Greene gave up eight inches to Walls but did a terrific defensive job on one of the main weapons for the Vikings, holding Walls to nine points on 4-of-16 shooting. Hairston led North Forsyth with 14 points while Bronell Cannady came off the bench to contribute 10.

The win sends Page to the third round where it will face Mount Tabor, the second-ranked team in the state according to MaxPreps. The Spartans are 27-1 with their only loss coming in the first of two matchups with the Pirates.

"Two teams that match up pretty evenly," Kent said. "They've got three Division I guards and our three guards are pretty good, too. I guess the biggest difference is that Julius is bigger than their big guy. We'll see how it goes."

North Forsyth 14 13 13 13 — 53
Page 11 20 26 12 — 69

North Forsyth (19-9) — Gerry Hairston 14, Bronell Canady 10, Jairus Simms 9, Kameko Walls 9, Tim Simpson 9, Allen Haiser 2.

Page (22-6) — Julius Brooks 19, A.J. Finney 19, Jordan Weethee 13, Stacey Greene 6, Mitchell Oates 5, De'mone Harrison 5, Jonathan Spain 2.