RALEIGH — When the Concord boys’ basketball team takes the court at the Dean Smith Center on Saturday, the Spiders won’t turn a lot of heads.

Not one player is listed above 6-foot-3, and the squad has only 10 players on its roster.

They aren’t flashy. They don’t have a player who scores more than 13 points a game. They will press. They will play hard, and that is exactly how Concord coach Scott Brewer likes his team.

“When we take the court Saturday night, there are going to be people that wonder how the heck we made it this far,” Brewer said Monday morning at the 2010 NCHSAA basketball press conference in the Radisson Hotel in Raleigh.

The Spiders (25-6) have made the NCHSAA 3-A state championship game through a season of ups and downs.

One player left the team after a string of losses. The team’s leading scorer — Griffin Templeton — went down with a broken left wrist. Brewer left Concord Cox Mill on a stretcher because of a possible heart attack.

Concord survived — so did Brewer.

The team started winning, Templeton returned to play the day his cast was removed, and Brewer was diagnosed with a stomach virus and sent home.

The Spiders are in the midst of a 16-game winning streak dating back to Jan. 22, and they don’t expect to stop Saturday.

“They (Rocky Mount High) will see a team play harder Saturday than any team they’ve seen,” said Brewer, who coached Central Cabbarus to a state championship in 2000. “I’m not saying we’re better, or that we’ll win this game. My kids will play hard. You can take that to the bank. We preach that you got to play until it hurts. It hurts to press after every basket.”

Still, the Spiders will press. The squad, which is in its third state title game in six years, will play an uptempo style offense around the perimeter.

But there is one concern Brewer has when he talks about the Gryphons.

“We got to figure out how to keep Mabry off our backs,” Brewer said. “I’ve never seen him play, but I’ve been told by several people he’s the best player in North Carolina. He’s got an uncanny shot-blocking ability.

“I’ve also been told they’re not a one-man show. Some nights, other guys had to step up. They’ve got some guards that can win some games. He (Mabry) may be the best player we play all year, I don’t know.”

Best player, maybe. Best team, he’s not sure.

Concord started its season against several of the top 4-A schools in North Carolina. The Spiders also traveled to play in the Beach Ball tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C., against some of the better teams across the country. Those games, Brewer said, have helped his young team grow.

Brewer expects to be calmer Saturday night than any night during the regular season.

“Even though I’m usually very emotional, I will be very calm Saturday,” Brewer said. “No cheerleading out of me will make them play harder. Sometimes, when you win as much as we win, you have to get emotional, but I won’t have to do that Saturday night.”

Trevor Seibert can be reached at 407-9952 or tseibert@rmtelegram.com

CONCORD ROSTER

No. Name Pos. Height Year

1 Kriston Beasley G 5’10” So.

3 Kendall Knorr G 6’2” So.

4 Jacquise Moore G 6’1” Jr.

5 Brian Davis G 5’10” Jr.

10 Griffin Templeton W 6’1” Sr.

12 Patrick Jenkins G 5’10” Jr.

21 Will Vanderburg G 5’10” Jr.

23 Xavier Stywall P 6’1” Jr.

24 Darren Black G 5’9” Fr.

35 Jalen Cannady P 6’3” Sr.