‘He wants the ball’: With NC State coaches watching, Zymicah Wilkins puts on a show

Zymicah Wilkins, a 6-9 pivot man for Christ School of Arden, might have felt he was playing a schoolyard game of “21” in Friday’s opening round of the four-team T.J. Warren Bracket of the John Wall Holiday Invitational at Broughton’s Holliday Gymnasium.

If so, then Wilkins, a N.C. State signee, won three times, effectively. His game highs of 21 points and 21 rebounds helped the Greenies to a 77-40 win over Knightdale, and a berth in a second consecutive Invitational championship game.

“He demands the ball. He wants the ball,” Christ School guard Madden Collins said of Wilkins. “Knowing and trusting he is going to make the right play 100 percent of the time, it’s fantastic.”

Wilkins, playing with Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts and assistant coach Levi Watkins (who played in the Holiday Invitational, too) sitting courtside, helped Christ School extend its wire-to-wire lead, including 31-25 at halftime, with a 35-6 third-quarter run that secured the game’s outcome. In the second half, Wilkins made six of eight field goals and recorded four of his five assists. For the game, he added four blocked shots and steals each, and had zero turnovers. Wilkins said little, as his playing, already, had revealed his high court IQ.

“I’m not really worried about scoring,” Wilkins said. “I’m going to try to get a rebound every time. I’m just really a hustle player, and just go get it.”

Wilkins corralled 16 first-half rebounds (eight each on offense and defense), and matched the Knights’ collective rebounding total during that span while patrolling the high post, elbow to elbow, before dropping down and running from one short corner to another. His second- and third-effort tips led to a first-quarter buzzer-beating basket that gave the Greenies a 15-7 lead.

“He’s so active off his feet. He’s so quick. He’s really good,” Knightdale coach Antonio Watson said of Wilkins. “Those mistakes of not boxing out, or guards not helping, it hurts you when you play a team like that with so much length.”

Wilkins’ 21 rebounds ties him for the eighth-highest single-game total in the Invitational’s 52 years. Raymond Miller (Garner) and Day’Ron Sharpe (South Central, Winterville) — the latter now an NBA player whose name is on another Invitational bracket — pulled 21 rebounds apiece in 1972 (the first Invitational) and 2018, respectively.

“When our best player is also our best teammate, that helps a lot,” Christ School coach Josh Coley said. “Then, he brings his hardhat and lunch pail.”

Wilkins, named “Most Outstanding Player” of the 2023 Invitational’s eight-team Day’Ron Sharpe Bracket (in which Christ School placed second), will have an opportunity to match Watkins’ 2000 feat (with Montrose Christian of Rockville, Maryland) of earning a four-team tournament championship and MVP award.