Patriots push toward special season in boys’ basketball

Providence Grove’s Andrew Thomas goes up for a shot against Randleman’s Pacey Wagner during a boys’ basketball game earlier this season. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)

CLIMAX — Members of the Providence Grove boys’ basketball team sense something brewing this winter.

“It definitely feels different to be winning and expecting to win,” senior swingman Will Dabbs said. “Most of us are seniors and we all needed to lock in more.”

That has happened for the Patriots as they’ve hit a groove, seeking to post their first winning record in four years. Actually, they’re aiming for more than that as they sit atop the Central Carolina 3-A Conference.

“We expected going in to be really good,” senior guard Andrew Thomas said. “We’re really developing chemistry.”

The Patriots are halfway through the conference schedule without a league loss. The only time that Providence Grove has won an outright boys’ basketball conference title came four years ago when Thomas’ older brother, Luke Thomas, was a senior on that team.

“It’d be huge,” Andrew Thomas said. “We all want it really bad.”

And it certainly seems within reach despite absorbing losses in the first four games of the season.

“It’s definitely a goal we’ve had from the beginning of the season,” Dabbs said.

It has taken time to adjust this season, which for several players on the team was launched just days after the end of their football season.

“It’s a collective team effort all around,” coach Shane Worth said. “It’s a group that has brought into what we want to do.”

Worth said despite a senior-heavy roster there hadn’t been much continuity. Gabe McKoy is back with the Patriots after playing a year ago for Chatham Charter, while Cam Jones is a transfer from Eastern Randolph.

“Just getting back into the groove, it took some time,” Dabbs said of McKoy’s return.

There’s an emphasis on guards making a difference to make up for a lack of size.

“That’s one thing we don’t have,” Worth said. “Move the ball, move without the ball and attack the rim when shots go up.”

With four players averaging in double figures — led by Dabbs at 18.8 points per game — there are options.

“We’re hitting shots,” Thomas said. “We run four guards and we’re all real quick. We’re generating offense.”

Dabbs, a third-year starter, and Jones have both connected on more than 40 shots from 3-point range and Thomas also is an perimeter threat. Dabbs came off a strong junior season.

“It just transferred over from last season and that came with confidence,” he said. “We’ve just all been playing our game. It took us awhile to play with each other.”

Despite a four-game winning streak in December, Providence Grove entered 2026 with a 5-7 record.

“That had us down,” Dabbs said. “We had to step up in some way. We want some of those games back.”

Worth said early losses weren’t devastating because the Patriots were matched up with several larger schools that had recent success.

“I wanted to play tougher competition,” he said. “Sometimes it pays off.”

Now the focus is on conference play — and hopefully beyond.

“Here recently we have really been feeding off each other’s intensity,” Thomas said. “We’re getting hot right before playoffs. We obviously knew we had that talent. At first, we didn’t develop it and then we really started to figure it out.”