Heart of a Spartan

North Carolina is known in many circles as the "Hoop State" for its history of highly competitive high school basketball. Legends such as Michael Jordan, John Wall and Chris Paul all hail from the Carolina hardwood. For a small private school in Burlington, the 2024-2025 season delivered all of the drama, thrills and heartbreak that the Hoop State is known for.

Schools like Word of God Christian Academy, Greensboro Day School and Christ School are recognizable names among sports fans due to their success. However, The Burlington School, a small private school out of Burlington, North Carolina, has been a dominant force without many rumblings outside of state lines.

The Rise

In the past 11 years, TBS has won five state championships, and sent over 30 players to play basketball at the collegiate level. The team's success started with head coach Ron Johnson, who won two state championships, one in 2015, and another in 2017, before departing to coach at Davidson Day.

"Man, we went in there and it felt like we just dominated everyone," Assistant coach Jordan Nelson said, reflecting on his time playing for TBS on the 2015 state championship team. "There wasn't too many people that could stop us."

Three years after Johnson's third title came Ryan Bernadi, a young, up-and-coming coach who completed the feat of winning back-to-back state championships in 2021 and 2022.

Following Bernardi's second championship, he took over as head coach at Prolific Prep, one of the nation's most prestigious prep school basketball programs. To replace him was George Marshall, a former Teach for America Corps member turned basketball coach from Henderson Collegiate in North Carolina.

It didn't take long to follow the TBS tradition, as he won a State Championship in his first year at the school in 2023. However, a shocking loss to cross-town rival Burlington Christian Academy in the State Quarterfinals in 2024 would become more of a challenge than he first realized.

Dealing with Defeat

The 2024-25 season began with optimism, but the early exit of 2024 still lingered in the back of the minds of TBS players and staff.

"We had lost our way last season, and I think that starts and ends with me as the head coach," Marshall said. "We were extremely talented...and at the end of last season, you're at a loss."

The 2024 team was led by four seniors who all graduated to college programs, King Gibson, a blossoming nationally-ranked freshman, and juniors Kaden Hammond and Cam Flippen. Following the season, not only did they lose the four seniors to graduation, but also lost three role players who transferred out.

A few fresh faces joined the team at the start of the 2024-25 season with one freshman and one junior transfer. They joined familiar faces in Hammond, Flippen, and Gibson who returned to lead the team. Marshall had a less talented team on paper, but perhaps a more cohesive team on the court.

Marshall emphasized building a culture and a foundation from the June camps-forward, something that he believed the team lacked the previous season. The team started the season strong with a 7-4 record, a mediocre record for most, but accounting for the fact they had the number one strength-of-schedule in the state, it was a more impressive feat than what meets the eye.

Coming off of a trip to the Outer Banks in December, the Spartans faced their next challenge. This wasn't a normal challenge, however. It wasn't a rivalry game, a more athletic team, or even an injury. Gibson, their nationally ranked, star-sophomore told the team he would be transferring from TBS to Montverde Academy in Florida...that week.

"Talk about just an unbelievable adjustment," Coach Marshall said. "When you have someone of that skill level, you have your offense designed around him and you have to fully scrap that."

There was no bad blood between Gibson and anybody from the TBS basketball program, as Flippen and Hammond both said they understood Gibson was off to seek better opportunity and was on a different path. Gibson said that he followed TBS' season on social media, and continued his support for his former teammates.

TBS finished the season out with a 17-11 record, the team's second lowest winning percentage since before their first state title.

"We built the schedule based on the fact that we had a nationally ranked player," Marshall said. "Once [Gibson] transferred, we had to play out that schedule, which was difficult."

The Playoffs

TBS started the post-season on a low note, dropping the Central Carolina Athletic Conference (CCAC) Championship to BCA, a loss that rekindled past memories of failure. To make matters worse, freshman Brayden Miles was concussed in the game and out indefinitely, and freshman Jack Baker broke his finger in a freak accident in practice later that week.

Going into the state playoffs, Marshall knew that his team would be outmatched in talent and depth in nearly every game they played due to the limited roster. However, he knew if the team came together with the right attitude and grit, they had a chance to make a run.

"We had values that were really good coming out of last year's loss, and, candidly, they just weren't working," Marshall said. "It just wasn't vibing with the team that we had and we needed to kind of add this extra element of swagger and toughness."

It was just before the playoffs when Marshall introduced a new team-culture acronym that would be four key values that would carry them throughout the playoffs. The acronym was S.W.A.G.: sacrifice, work ethic, attitude, and grit.

The Spartans found themselves in deficits in both of the first two playoff games to Fayetteville Academy and Harrells Christian Academy, but the values set in place prepared the team to come together in critical moments. Marshall explained that even in the hardest times, the team had a "cool confidence" about them and trusted the game plan under pressure.

"I had faith in our guys because that was kind of a testament to our season," senior Kendall Hooker said. "There were plenty of games we had been down and we clawed and we fought our way back. I knew we were the better team and we were gonna win."

TBS edged out their Elite 8 and Final 4 opponents and punched their ticket to the state championship through injury, deficits and transfers. Players rushed together to celebrate the accomplishment in the locker room, but a teary-eyed Marshall paced the hallway, reflecting on the win and the tough road the team endured.

"No one outside of our locker room really knows what it takes to do what we're doing," Marshall said. "It was just a bout of emotion because I knew what our guys had been through."

After the celebrations died down and the adrenaline was spent, their sights shifted to their next challenge: beating Caldwell Academy and winning a state championship. The Spartans played Caldwell earlier in the season and had lost 73-60 at the hands of Caldwell's four-star junior, Cole Cloer. This time, however, the team was hungry. With a new game plan set to stop Cloer and the other Caldwell stars, they were confident they could end the season on a high note.

The Championship

The team arrived to Providence Day School in Charlotte and were met by hundreds of Caldwell faithful. A sea of Caldwell blue in the bleachers was met with sparse speckles of Burlington red, a similar theme to their past playoff games.

In the locker room, Assistant Coach Damario Jackson told the story of David and Goliath to motivate the team, as he clutched a small stone in his right hand.

"Don't be afraid," Jackson said towards the end of his speech. "They said we're small and we got here by luck. We didn't get here by luck. We're here to knock that giant down."

The game plan to stop Cloer and Caldwell's other two lead players was successful, as the Spartans held their big three to 30 points combined. However, the Eagles' role players stepped up when it mattered most and combined for 40. TBS kept the game competitive for the first half, but the onslaught proved too much to handle and they ultimately fell to the Eagles 73-51.

The postgame locker room celebration of the prior two games was replaced by tears and an eerie silence. Players sat in the locker room with their heads down, realizing the underdog-run had come to a disappointing end.

"I'm glad we made it there, it was cool," Flippen said. "But at the same time, second place runner up doesn't get no big trophies."

Marshall made his rounds in the locker room, embracing each senior with words of encouragement for their futures. He then turned to the underclassmen and told them to remember what they are feeling and to let it motivate them to never feel it again.

"There are things in that game that we deserve to be disappointed in, but we can't treat that as the only thing that happened this entire season," Marshall said. "They deserve an absolute ton of credit, and they should go down in the history of this program as one of the best teams, collectively, that this school has ever seen."

Although the outcome is not what the team wanted, Marshall has high hopes for the season to come. He believes that after three years, he has a foundation of values, young players and a culture to build off of. With sacrifice, work ethic, attitude, grit and a little bit of luck, Marshall is hopeful the 2026 team is set up in a position to reclaim the throne in the Hoop State.