Dionte Neal Leaves Reidsville as a Legend
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — They had a man on him before he touched the ball.
Every possession. Every half-court set. Every time Dionte Neal caught a pass and turned to face the defense, there were two of them — arms out, chests up, daring him to beat them both. Salisbury's game plan for the NCHSAA Class 4A state championship wasn't subtle. It was a tribute, in its own way. You don't build your entire defensive scheme around a player unless you know what he's capable of.
He finished with 38 points anyway.
It wasn't enough. Salisbury walked out of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum with an 83-68 win and the program's first state title since 1987. Reidsville, the two-time defending champions, was dethroned. And Dionte Neal — point guard, floor general, the heartbeat of the Rams program for four years — played his last high school game.
Take a moment with that. Because what just ended in Winston-Salem doesn't come around very often.
109-3
That's the record Neal finishes with as Reidsville's starting point guard. One hundred and nine wins. Three losses. Two state championships. Four trips to the final.
In his freshman year, the Rams lost in the title game. Neal vowed he wouldn't feel that feeling again. He kept that promise for three straight seasons — going 31-0 in 2023-24, back-to-back perfect — before running into a Salisbury team that finally had both the talent and the draw to face them on the biggest stage.
The numbers Neal leaves behind are almost unreasonable. He averaged 35.6 points, 8.6 assists, 6.4 steals, and 4.6 rebounds per game this season. He broke the Reidsville single-game scoring record in January when he dropped 63 points. He is believed to be the first North Carolina high school basketball player in history to record 1,000 career assists. He won the Gatorade North Carolina Basketball Player of the Year award. He is the all-time leading scorer in program history.
More Than a Basketball Player
Here's what makes Neal's story even more remarkable: basketball is only half of it.
On the football field, Neal was equally electric. This past fall, he racked up 2,404 all-purpose yards — 1,352 receiving, 511 rushing, 542 passing — and scored 27 touchdowns as Reidsville rolled to the Class 4A football state championship as well. The Rams finished 13-2, and Neal was a central reason why.
Two sports. Two state titles in the same school year. That's not a high school career — that's a highlight reel that doesn't have an off-season.
The Night Everything Stayed on the Table
The week before the championship game, Neal made a difficult announcement: he was decommitting from UNC Greensboro after the Spartans chose not to renew the contract of head coach Mike Jones. It was the kind of news that would rattle most players. Neal went out and scored 38 points in the state finals anyway.
That tells you everything you need to know about who he is.
As of now, Neal's recruitment is wide open — and from where we sit, that's genuinely exciting. Wake Forest has extended a scholarship offer. Boston College, Appalachian State, and the College of Charleston are also in the mix, along with earlier interest from UNC-Chapel Hill, NC A&T, and High Point. He's ranked a three-star prospect by 247Sports and sits fifth in the state's composite rankings.
But here's our inside angle: don't sleep on the dual-sport conversation. Neal's football production this fall was impossible to ignore, and the programs that can offer him a path to play both at the next level may have a real edge in this recruitment. He's not just a basketball player looking for a gym. He's an athlete — a complete, two-sport weapon — and the right school will recruit him that way.
Wherever he lands, they're getting one of the most decorated high school athletes North Carolina has produced in recent memory.
What He Said Afterward
After the final buzzer, Neal stood near halfcourt, visibly emotional. He'd shot 11-for-33 from the field, 1-for-13 from three — a testament to how much attention Salisbury devoted to stopping him, and still, not enough to hold him under 40.
"I'm mad, angry, sad, confused," he said. "I want another try. I haven't felt this feeling since my freshman year and it's not a good feeling. I just wish I could have this chance back."
That's the fire talking. That's a competitor who hasn't finished competing yet.
Reidsville head coach Jason Ross framed it simply: "He is Reidsville basketball. He's what I want in a Reidsville basketball player."
High praise. Earned every bit of it.
The Next Chapter
The 2025-26 season is over for Dionte Neal. His high school career is done. The records are set, the banners are hung, and the legacy is sealed — regardless of what happened on a Thursday night in Winston-Salem.
What comes next is a blank page, and that might be the most exciting thing about where Dionte Neal stands right now. The best basketball — and football — of his life is still in front of him. The right school, the right system, the right coaching staff, and there's no ceiling on what this kid can become.
We'll be watching. And we're rooting loud.
