Littleton, N.C. — A teen who collapsed suddenly while playing basketball at a Littleton church Monday night died of heart failure, a school administrator said Wednesday. 

Javaris Dashawn Brinkley, of Henrico, collapsed during a pick-up basketball game in the Lake Gaston Baptist Church recreational league and later died at Halifax Regional Medical Center in Roanoke Rapid.

Brinkley was a student at KIPP Gaston College Preparatory and was "loved and respected deeply by his classmates and our staff," Principal Tammi Sutton said in a statement.

Brinkley's family remembered him as a youth leader at Patillo Chapel Baptist Church, an academically gift student and basketball player at school, and a worker at Little Ceasar's Pizza in Roanoke Rapids.

"Javaris was his father’s heart, and they spent so many days having father-son talks, working on cars, and hosting neighborhood cookouts," his obituary states. "His mom will mostly miss the hundreds of weekly outings they shared in celebration of family togetherness and life."

Brinkley is survived by his parents, Anjoylus and Maggie Brinkley, two sisters, brother, maternal grandmother, and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and co-workers.

A wake will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at Patillo Chapel Baptist Church, 3119 River Road in Henrico. A funeral service will be conducted Friday at 2 p.m. at KIPP Gaston's gymnasium, followed by a burial in the Patillo Church cemetery.

Robinson Funeral Home in Littleton was handling the arrangements.