'Slim' cements legacy by leading North Meck to 4A title

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North Mecklenburg High basketball standout Isaiah Evans scored 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the Vikings' 57-47 win against New Hanover in the North Carolina 4A title game March 16 in Winston-Salem.

Isaiah Evans is one of the greatest players to wear a North Mecklenburg High uniform.

In a time when many high-profile players choose to transfer to private schools or basketball academies, Evans stayed loyal to the Vikings. Saturday night in Winston-Salem, he cemented his legacy as one of the best ever.
After coming up short as a sophomore and junior, Evans led his team past New Hanover 57-47 in the North Carolina 4A title game and got coach Duane Lewis his third title. Evans scored 23 points in his final game as a Viking.

“This means everything to me,” Evans said. “Going to a private school somewhere across the world and winning meaningless games doesn’t really do anything for me. This is fulfilling. We put in real hours, time, sweat and blood for this. This wasn’t something we just woke up one day and decided we wanted to do. We decided before the season what we wanted to do and said this was what we were going to complete.”

Evans, nicknamed “Slim” for his physique, set multiple Charlotte-Mecklenburg records in his four-year career at North Meck. You’ll find his name twice on the list of highest-scoring performances in a single game, including 62 points in the 2023 NCHSAA playoffs against conference rival Chambers. He scored 48 points in a playoff win earlier this month against top-seeded Myers Park.

For Lewis, his legacy is intertwined with Evans, a bond the coach calls a “North thing.” Evans embraced it from the first time he walked into the gym as a freshman on the junior varsity team.

“[Evans] could have gone anywhere,” Lewis acknowledged. “He chose to stay here. That’s the thing with us. It’s all about a buy-in. It isn’t for everybody. We work hard and I challenge them. But, at the end of the day, they know I love them to death, and I’ve got their back. I’m going to be there for them through whatever.”

During the Vikings’ first playoff game during their championship run, Lewis described how Evans, a McDonald’s All-America, isn’t just one of his best players but also one of the most coachable.

“I can get onto him as much as I can anyone else,” Lewis said. “He could have gone anywhere, and everyone knows that. But he wanted to stay here. He knows the history here; he knows the former players and he is a part of them. He has been a joy to coach. Will I ever get another one? I don’t know. I have been here 27 years and had some great players and he is one of them.”

Evans is off to join the Brotherhood at Duke in one of the Blue Devils' best classes in the school’s history that includes several five-star prospects — including Evans — and a few four-star players. He is projected as the 13th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and all signs are pointing to potentially rising.

The North Mecklenburg chapter in Evans’ career is over. The next chapter starts now.

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