Farmville Central's Williams signs to play basketball at Eastern Kentucky
FARMVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — A Farmville Central High School basketball player signed his National Letter of Intent Thursday, May 29, 2025, to play at the collegiate level.
M.J. Williams will be going to Eastern Kentucky University to play for the Colonels after averaging 25 points per game in his senior year with the Jaguars.
'It's amazing. You know, it's a lot of hard work and time and everybody put into it,' Williams said. 'Not just me, my loved ones, my friends, family, everybody, coaches, teammates. We all just came together to help. This moment is really special.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Oklahoma City Thunder are NBA champions. They might just be getting started.
An earthquake that rattled Las Vegas on July 5, 2019 suspended play for the night at NBA Summer League. Hours later, another seismic event altered the direction of the NBA in ways that were not immediately recognized. The Oklahoma City Thunder traded Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the focus of the deal was George joining Kawhi Leonard on the Clippers. Gilgeous-Alexander had just finished an encouraging rookie season and, as part of the deal, the Thunder acquired multiple first-round picks, including the Clippers' 2022 first-round pick that turned into Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams. Six years after the Thunder acquired Gilgeous-Alexander and three years after they selected Williams with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 draft, the Thunder are NBA champions with Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams excelling throughout the regular season, playoffs and NBA Finals. The Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 on Sunday, June 22, putting their historical mark on a season that included 68 regular-season victories, 16 playoff victories and the Thunder's first NBA title since moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008. Gilgeous-Alexander was named Finals MVP going for 29 points, 12 assists and five rebounds in Game 7 and averaging 30.3 points, 5.6 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals in the Finals. Gilgeous-Alexander is the first player since LeBron James in 2013 to win a title, regular-season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season. Williams, who in each Finals game gained more confidence in his ability to score from where he wanted, averaged 23.6 points against the Pacers and scored 40 in Game 5 and 20 in Game 7. The team was meticulously assembled by Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti. The Thunder feature two All-Stars, talented young players, savvy veterans – they're a team that has offensive and defensive versatility. Presti brought in a then-early-30s-something and open-minded assistant head coach named Mark Daigneault from the Florida Gators men's basketball team to coach Oklahoma City's G League team in 2014. He became the Thunder's head coach in 2020. Oklahoma City is the second-youngest team to win a championship in the past 70 seasons, with an average age of 25.6 years old. The Thunder were No. 1 defensively and No. 3 defensively during the regular season and that carried over to the playoffs. This is the vision Presti had when he started a rebuild. Already one of the game's premier executives – he was named 2024-25 NBA Executive of the Year – Presti wanted a team that can compete for a championship season after season. The Thunder have been building toward this moment for years. In Daigneault's first season in 2020-21, the Thunder went 22-50, then 24-58, 40-42, 57-25, and 68-14 this season. "There were very early flickers," Daigneault said. "Even in those early years, those were challenging years at different times. Certainly they looked like challenging years on paper. How it felt every day was not a reflection of our record or where our standing was in the league. You could feel that something was starting to simmer. You could feel that some of the seeds we were planting were going to be flowering at some point. There were very early indications of that even in those seasons. "We were confident, even back then, not necessarily that we'd be in the Finals right now. You never know the timing of when things come together. But we were confident that we were building something special and something that had the ability to sustain." It came together this season. For a group that had not advanced beyond the second round, the Thunder earned their title. They trailed the Denver Nuggets 1-0 in the Western Conference semifinals and needed to win Game 7 to reach the conference finals, where they handled the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games. Oklahoma City dropped Game 1 to the Pacers and Game 3. It trailed 2-1 in the series and won the next two games. It fell in Game 6 but won another winner-take-all contest at home. "We've gone through a lot of new experiences together. Haven't pretended that we're more experienced than we are," Daigneault said. "We've tried to lean on the things that we know have made us successful and put us in this position." It helps to lean on Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams, two of the league's best young players. Gilgeous-Alexander's 72 points through the first two games against the Pacers were the most ever by a player in his first two career Finals games. In Game 4, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 of his 35 points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter – the most points in the final five minutes of regulation of an NBA Finals game since 1971. In Game 5, he became the first player to have at least 30 points, 10 assists and four blocks in a Finals game since blocks became an official stat in 1973-74. "It comes down to the moments and who is willing to make winning plays on both ends of the floor," the 26-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander said. "I relish those moments, love the moments, good or bad. When I was a kid shooting at my driveway, I'd count down the clock for those moments. Now I get to live it. It's a blessing, it's fun, and I relish it." Williams, 24, was an All-Star and All-NBA selection for the first time in his three-year career. He improved and became more difficult to defend as the series progressed. He had 40 points, six rebounds and four assists in Game 5 – the fifth-youngest player to score 40 or more in a Finals game behind Magic Johnson, Rick Barry, Russell Westbrook and Jerry West. "My biggest thing is just stepping into the moment, success or fail, just kind of living with the results," Williams said. "I put a lot of work into my game, so I just go out there and play. I just don't want to ever play a game and look back where I wasn't aggressive, afraid to do a move." The Thunder are not a two-man show and that was by design. Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams and Isaiah Joe provided the Thunder with what Daigneault called "optionality." In Game 2, Gilgeous-Alexander, Caruso, Williams, Wiggins and Holmgren became the first set of five teammates since the 2019 Raptors to score at least 15 points each in a Finals game. Caruso, in Game 4, was the first player to record at least 20 points and five steals in a Finals game since steals became an official stat in 1973-74. Time and time again, the Thunder had a player deliver when necessary. Wiggins' five 3-pointers in Game 2, Holmgren's 14 points and 15 rebounds in Game 4, Wallace's three 3s in Game 5 and Dort's relentless defense for the entire series. Holmgren added 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks in the series finale. "If you followed our team throughout the season, I think you know that flexibility and adaptability is the only constant," Daigneault said. "We're never staying the same. … Our rotation night to night in these series has been incredibly variant. We think that's a strength of our team." And the Thunder should be championship contenders for the next several seasons. Yes, the league changes quickly, and there hasn't been a repeat champion since Golden State in 2017-18. That's seven different champions in seven seasons in this new era of competitive balance in the NBA. But the Thunder can have the same roster back next season, and with savvy financial planning, they can keep Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, Holmgren, Caruso, Wiggins and Wallace through at least 2027-28 and possibly for a few seasons after that. Plus, they have a stockpile of first-round draft picks available for roster improvements. It is difficult to build a dynasty in today's NBA. The roster restrictions and financial penalties limit what teams can do. Surveying the NBA landscape, the Thunder are in position to make it happen.


NBC Sports
4 hours ago
- NBC Sports
Nneka Ogwumike scores 26, Skylar Diggins adds 20 to help Storm beat Liberty 89-79
SEATTLE — Nneka Ogwumike scored 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting, Skylar Diggins added 20 points and the Seattle Storm beat the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty 89-79 on Sunday. Seattle (9-5) has won three games in a row and six of seven. New York (10-3) has lost back-to-back road games and three of four overall. The Liberty committed a season-high 21 turnover, which Seattle converted into 22 points. Gabby Williams had 12 points, a career-high 10 assists, six rebounds and four steals. Williams had her first career double-double last time out in a 90-83 win over Las Vegas on Friday. Williams nearly had the ball stripped but secured it and nearly threw it away but Ogwumike made a finger-tip catch and hit a 3 just before the shot clock expired to give Seattle an 85-79 lead with 1:30 left in the game. Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 18 points. Ogwumike grabbed seven rebounds and moved past Tina Thompson (3,070) into ninth in WNBA history with 3,077 career rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu (neck), Jonquel Jones (ankle) and Leonie Fiebich (overseas) did not play for the Liberty. Rebekah Gardner and Marine Johannes made their first starts of the season for the short-handed Liberty. Johannes hit two 3s and scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the first half and finished with 17 points. Up next The Storm play the second of three consecutive home games Tuesday against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. The Liberty play at Golden State on Wednesday.


Fox Sports
5 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Nneka Ogwumike scores 26, Skylar Diggins adds 20 to help Storm beat Liberty 89-79
Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Nneka Ogwumike scored 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting, Skylar Diggins added 20 points and the Seattle Storm beat the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty 89-79 on Sunday. Seattle (9-5) has won three games in a row and six of seven. New York (10-3) has lost back-to-back road games and three of four overall. The Liberty committed a season-high 21 turnover, which Seattle converted into 22 points. Gabby Williams had 12 points, a career-high 10 assists, six rebounds and four steals. Williams had her first career double-double last time out in a 90-83 win over Las Vegas on Friday. Williams nearly had the ball stripped but secured it and nearly threw it away but Ogwumike made a finger-tip catch and hit a 3 just before the shot clock expired to give Seattle an 85-79 lead with 1:30 left in the game. Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 18 points. Ogwumike grabbed seven rebounds and moved past Tina Thompson (3,070) into ninth in WNBA history with 3,077 career rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu (neck), Jonquel Jones (ankle) and Leonie Fiebich (overseas) did not play for the Liberty. Rebekah Gardner and Marine Johannes made their first starts of the season for the short-handed Liberty. Johannes hit two 3s and scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the first half and finished with 17 points. Up next The Storm play the second of three consecutive home games Tuesday against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. The Liberty play at Golden State on Wednesday. ___ AP WNBA: recommended