APEX - Earlier this season Timmy Plummer sat in the stands at Apex High boys basketball games believing every turnover, every missed shot and, most especially, every loss was his fault.

At every game, someone would ask the 6-foot-2 senior point guard why he wasn't playing.

Without exception, Plummer's answer was a variation of: "It is no one's fault but my own."

Plummer was ineligible to play for the first semester after he failed Algebra II in summer school.

But as he prepares for the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A boys basketball championship game tonight against East Mecklenburg, he can look back and see how that time in the stands helped him grow into a better person.

His return for the second semester helped take a team that started 4-9 to the brink of a title.

He leads the team in scoring (14.6 points per game), in rebounding (7.6 per game) and heads its defense.

"I knew I loved basketball," he said, "but I didn't know how much before it was gone. It was gone, and it was my fault."

During the fall semester, Plummer made A's and B's on his other courses and a C in Algebra II.

"There was never any question about whether I could pass it," he said. "I just had to settle down and work at it."

Almost too late, he learned that academics had to be a priority.

"I wish I could tell every kid that you have to get your grades," Plummer said. "You have to. There is no other way. Believe me, I know."

He could have taken an easier path back to the court. Some private schools asked him to transfer and play for them.

"There were plenty of people telling him that he should transfer," Apex coach David Neal said. "Run away from it. Ignore it. Don't face your consequences. Timmy really showed his loyalty with his decision."

Plummer, who had led Apex to back-to-back Tri-Eight 4-A Conference titles and into the third round of the playoffs the past two years, nursed his hurt but refused to become bitter.

"I wasn't leaving," he said. "This is my school. This is my team. These are my friends."

Last March, on the day after Apex was eliminated by Wakefield in the 2007 playoffs, Plummer vowed that this year the team was going to play for the state title.

He made his announcement in front of future and former teammates at lunch, and they stared with disbelief.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Plummer and DeArius White were expected to be the only starters back.

No, countered Plummer, there would be no rebuilding during his senior year.

"I felt physically sick because we lost to Wakefield," he said. "I was miserable. I wasn't going to go through that again and I told them.

"That day, I dedicated myself to making myself the best player I could and to making this our best year."

Although his first-semester grades made him eligible to play, there was no guarantee the club would welcome him back.

No guarantee, but no question in Neal's mind or in the minds of his players.

"We've played together for years," senior Brendan Gilmartin said of Plummer. "He's a part of this team."

White, Plummer's backcourt mate, said throughout the first part of the season, even during the 4-9 start and a seven-game losing streak, the team thought better things were ahead if Plummer rejoined the team.

"When Timmy came back, we knew we had to gel in a hurry, but we could because we are friends," Gilmartin said.

Plummer's return cut into the minutes of other players.

"It wasn't easy," Neal said. "Everybody wants to play. But I had the parent of one of the guys who had been playing more earlier in the season come to my office and tell me the family was OK with how things are because Timmy is such a great teammate."

Tonight Apex (19-11) and Plummer face a 24-8 East Mecklenburg team that is led by point guard Malik Stith.

"He is about the strongest high school point guard you'll ever see," East coach Jason Grube said. "He makes us tick."

Plummer takes more pride in playing defense than in scoring, and tonight Stith will be his defensive assignment.

"Guarding the other team's best player is the thing I enjoy most about basketball," he said.

The game is far more than Plummer versus Stith, but Plummer knows that he will play a key role in the biggest game of his life.

After a difficult detour, it is exactly like he dreamed it would be.