CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An 18-year-old Charlotte high school basketball player died after getting hit by a car while riding a bike Saturday morning in the University City area.
Police said Miquase "Mikey" Corey Maddox was riding his bicycle against traffic around 1 a.m. when he was struck by a 2003 Infiniti G35 near the Village at College Downs apartment complex on Old Concord Road near Suther Road.
Maddox is the second basketball player from Team United, an Amateur Athletic Union traveling team out of Charlotte, to die in less than three months.
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James Hampton collapsed on the court and died at the hospital when the team was in Virginia for a tournament in May.
Maddox’s AAU coach, Ed Cooke, woke up Saturday morning to a phone call that one of his players was killed by a car.
Maddox was thrown from his bike and off the roadway and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officials said Maddox was not wearing a helmet.
Police said the driver and a witness in a different car stayed after the crash.
“Man, it's been the toughest thing ever,” Cooke said. ”I don’t even know how I'm standing here still talking to you about it.”
Police said the driver wasn’t impaired, but it is unknown if speeding was a factor.
Cooke said he was just thinking about Maddox Friday night.
“Mikey was one of the best kids, I think in the city,” Cooke said. “Confident kid, very confident kid. It wasn't nothing Mikey felt like he couldn't do.”
Cooke didn’t deny how challenging it’s been for him to cope with two deaths on his basketball team.
“We've just been getting through it, but it's been hard,” Cooke said.
Maddox’s death was especially hard on Jaden Springer, a former teammate and close friend.
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Last season, Springer led Rocky River High School to the NCHSAA 4A semifinal game.
Maddox was there cheering his friend on.
“I just looked at it over and over again,” said Barbarita Springer, Jaden Springer’s mother. “Although he left the school, he still had so much support for my son.”
“I hate that more of the world didn’t have a chance to see it, because he's one of the kids I felt like had a shot,” Cooke said.
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