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It was a genius coaching move by Bishop McGuinness' Josh Thompson: The old "Hey-Aaron-go-out-there-and-score-51-points" play.

OK, so Thompson doesn't have quite that much power over his senior point guard. When Toomey starts pumping it in like he did in Friday's sectional championship victory — 29 points in the fourth quarter and two overtimes, after missing half the second quarter after a nasty fall — Thompson knows it's best to just get out of the way. But he also knows banking on that to happen is a dangerous gamble.

"We know that if we depend on Aaron to score 40, there aren't going to be a lot of games we're going to win," Thompson said as his Villains (19-10) prepared to face Monroe (29-1) in tonight's regional semifinal at UNCG's Fleming Gymnasium. Game time is 8:30.

Toomey, just voted conference player of the year for a second straight season, has increased his scoring average from 29 points per game in the regular season to 40 in the playoffs, including 49 points in the first round.

But Thompson was most comfortable with the second-round victory, in which Toomey had 20 points and 10 rebounds but was helped by Josh Rathburn's 17 points and Atticus Lum's 12. Thompson said three players in double figures has been a good indicator of success for his team, which features a freshman and sophomore as the first two players off the bench. That follows a big graduation departure from last season's Class 1-A state champion.

"We tell them that we're going after a championship, we're not trying defend one," Thompson said. "We're pursuing one."

Thompson said last year's team doesn't enter conversation often, unless it's a lesson on what he calls "the mentality of winning a championship."

"Sometimes you just have to grind it out," he said. "We are not flashy at all. It's about hard work."

NORTHEAST GUILFORD: On paper, Northeast Guilford is one of the more surprising teams remaining, having unseated conference champions Cardinal Gibbons and Southern Lee as a No. 2 seed to reach their matchup today against Winterville South Central (27-1) at 8:30 p.m. in Greenville.

Class 1-A East survivor Perquimans, with an 18-10 record like the Rams, is the only other team with 10 losses.

But remember how deceiving Northeast's record is: Each of the Rams' 10 losses has been by 10 points or fewer, five by three points or fewer. The Rams cruised in Friday's sectional final, holding Southern Lee to four points in the second quarter and winning 60-50.

The Rams' opponent tonight carries the opposite problem: Everyone expected Winterville South Central not just to be here, but on the awards podium a week from Saturday. The Falcons won the Coastal Conference and are the No. 1-ranked 3-A team in the state. They've won 14 straight, including all three playoff games by margins of 18, 18 and 20.

After Friday's 77-57 sectional championship win over Wilson Fike, South Central head coach Chris Cherry told the Greenville Daily Reflector: "We've been carrying that burden of being the No. 1 team in the state for about a month now. I thought the pressure was really starting to get to us, but tonight, I thought we played like champions."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com