STEM - Northwood still holds a 2-1 advantage against Carrboro this year in Carolina-12 boys basketball, but the Jaguars don't mind. That "one" - Carrboro's 50-42 victory against Northwood in a see-saw battle played Friday on a neutral court at Granville Central High School - came in the Carolina-12 Conference basketball tournament finals.

The win earned Carrboro its first basketball title in the combined 1A/2A conference.

Northwood went one-for-two in the 2A portion of Friday's finals. The Northwood girls' team improved to 23-3 with a 56-41 win over host Granville Central in the game that preceded the boys' battle.

The Chargers led 21-20 at half, and they were still ahead 34-33 at the end of the third quarter.

With Carrboro still trailing 40-36 with 5:20 to play, Keenan Van Name sparked a rally that saw the Jaguars (17-8, 13-4) retake the lead for good at 42-40 and helped shut down Northwood's offense. Van Name finished with 21 points.

The Carrboro boys' team used a 14-2 run to end the game and secure their title.

"We hang our hat on our defense," Carrboro head coach John Alcox said. "It was something I started pushing on them at the end of the year, and we drilled on it during the season."

The Jaguar defense held Northwood to 3-for-26 shooting from the 3-point line. The Chargers struggled from beyond the arc, but kept the game close with their inside play and good defense of their own.

Alcox acknowledged his seniors helped make the difference in the evenly matched game.

"If they were sophomores, they would have folded," Alcox said.

Carrboro (17-8) finished second in the Carolina-12 during the regular season behind Northwood (19-7), which had 15 straight victories against Carolina-12 opponents. Aumad Walker led the Charger scoring with 16 points, and Mark Goods added 13. Northwood fared better on the girls' side. Shelby Wolfe poured in 24 points to easily pace the Chargers against Granville Central. Granville Central (18-6) closed to within 23-21 early in the third quarter but that would be as close as it would get.

Wolfe added eight third quarter points to pace the Chargers to a 10-point lead.

The Chargers finished strong with 19 fourth quarter points, mostly from the foul line for their first conference tournament title under coach Cameron Vernon. Northwood went 15-1 in Carolina-12 regular-season games this year, losing only to Carolina-12 1A champion River Mill. The Chargers' only other losses came against undefeated arch-rival Jordan-Matthews.

CAROLINA 2A TOURNAMENT BOYS FINAL

Carrboro 50, Northwood 42

CARRBORO (17-8)

McLean Phipps 5, Ty Woodard 5, Marlin Johnson 9, Keenan Van Name 21, James Scott 6, Trai Sharp 4.

NORTHWOOD (19-7)

Aumad Walker 16, Cam Pappas 9, Mark Goods 13, John Wieland 4.

CAROLINA 2A TOURNAMENT GIRLS FINAL

Northwood 56, Granville Central 40

GRANVILLE CENTRAL (19-7)

Briana Haith 5, Tamara Crews 2, Keena Evans 13, Alexis Bailey 8, Dominique Moore 6, Makyla Hester 4, Maya Perry 2,

NORTHWOOD (23-3)

Gaby Mehringer 10, Alexis Brower 3, Yancey Luft 5, Kerri Snipes 5, Shelby Wolfe 24, Shontai Totten 9.