If you talk to Apex head coach David Neal, he doesn't seem at all surprised that his team has made a run in the playoffs. After all, this program has seen a lot of success over the years.

"It's the players," Neal said on Media Day for the 2008 Eastern Regional Tournament. "We've just had some great players."

Last year, Yorel Hawkins stole the spotlight, but this year it's someone with a little bit less of a scoring threat.

Tim Plummer joined the team in the second half of the season, and his overall intensity and expectation to win has fueled the Cougars' run in the state playoffs.

After losing to rival Cary at home in the first round of the Tri-Eight Conference Tournament, Apex has gone on the road and beaten three quality teams. It started with Scotland County, then it was Millbrook, then Clayton.

Now, Apex will have the chance to upset another team. Terry Sanford.

There's one catch to this match-up. "Interestingly enough," Neal said, "I played for Coach [Bill] Boyette when I was in ninth grade at Sanderson High."

Coach Boyette now coaches at Terry Sanford.

"There's no body in the state that I respect more and look up to more than Coach Boyette," Neal continued. "I can't believe we got picked to play each other out of the four teams."

Neal said he followed Boyette's teams when he was at Cary, including 1995 when he won the state championship. "I talk to my teams about that 1995 team," Neal said.

Does going up against his former coach concern Neal?

"I never want to go up against Coach Boyette," Neal said, "But if we come up on the short end of the game, I'm going to be very excited for him to know that he's made it to the Eastern Finals."

"[Boyette] came up to me when we got here at the meeting, and said, for some reason, he felt like it was coming - that we were going to get matched up with each other."

The two will face each other on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, and it is sure to be a good game.

The Cougars have done an outstanding job in the second half of the season. After starting a dismal 4-9 and losing their first four conference games, the Cougars finished the conference season 9-5, tied for second place in the Tri-Eight Conference.

Neal said he thought the Panther Creek win on the road was the turning point.

"We played our best game at Panther Creek, but it was still barely enough," Neal said. Apex got up by almost 30-points in that game before Panther Creek came charging back, scoring 42-points in the fourth quarter.

"They had like ten three pointers in the fourth quarter alone," Neal said.

The Cougars hung on to beat the Catamounts, 83-75, and since, the Cougars have only lost once.