Garinger (26-3) representing the Southwestern Conference and coached by James Davis were trying to bring back the 4A NCHSAA Western Regional Championship to the Wildcats. Garinger was making their 4th appearance. They won the Western Regional in 1989. Garinger won the Southwestern Conference Regular season and the Conference tournament. They were ranked #1 in the Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 final poll and #8 in the East Coast by Super Prep Magazine in NC 4A Division.

R J Reynolds (25-3), led by their coach Howard West, won the Central Piedmont Conference regular season and conference tournament. The Demons were looking for their 4th NCHSAA Western Regional Championship in the last five years.

Garinger and Reynolds have similar playing styles. They love the run and gun game and this showed in the first quarter as The Demons jumped out to a 29-21 first quarter lead. Brad Harris was the catalyst for R J Reynolds scoring 10 points while Marcus Robinson netted 7 and Cory Farmer pumped in 6 for Garinger.

Farmer and the Wildcats came back strong in the second quarter and outscored Reynolds 23-18 to cut into the lead. Reynolds had the hot shooting hand and lead 47-44 behind the scoring of Fulp, Giddons and Harris.

Reynolds hit 15 of 19 (79%) attempts from the field with 4 out of 5 three pointers.

Garinger tallied 19 third quarter points led by Farmer and Jerry Hollis to put Garinger in the lead 63-61 after three quarters. Joe Fulp scored nine of Reynolds fourteen points in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was a heated battle with Garinger and Reynolds trading basket for basket. The Demons finally was got the upper edge midway in the quarter and went on a 7-0 run to pull ahead 73-69 late in the quarter.

With 1:39 left on the clock the lights dimmed and MOTHER NATURE TOOK THE LEAD. A thunderstorm roared through the area knocking out power in Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum. This forced the NCHSAA to delay the game until the next day.

When play resumed Monday night the Demons had the ball and a four point lead with only 99 ticks left on the clock.

When play resumed Garinger was forced to foul and put the Demons on the free throw line to try and make their comeback. Reynolds hit 9 of 12 free throws to ice the game away and beat Garinger 82-73 to advance to the NCHSAA 4A State Championship game Saturday March 13, 2004 in Raleigh against Wakefield.

Grainger’s swarming Defense caused 21 Demon turnovers and had 15 steals but it was not enough to beat the hot shooting Demons.

Garinger had four players in double figures: Cory Farmer who had a game high 30 points, Jerry Goode 15 points, Jerry Hollis and Marcus Robinson both contributed 13 points. Nick Ledbetter grabbed 7 rebounds. Garinger shot 50% from the field but only 55% from the free throw line.

Reynolds made 21 of 32 (65%) shots from the field, 6 out of 9 from the three point line and 34 of 44 free throws. The Demons used balanced scoring getting 16 points apiece from Joe Fulp, Brad Harris, Jahron Giddons and Kevin Long. The Demons out rebounded Garinger 30 rebounds to 20.