McCall’s 27 leads West Bladen over Hoke County

West Brunswick earned its spot in the championship game of the Bladen Offroad Christmas Tournament in the first semifinal game Monday night.

Tylik McCall made sure the West Bladen boys’ basketball team would be the opponent in a rematch of last year’s title game.

McCall scored 27 points in leading the high-scoring Knights to a 90-73 victory against Hoke County inside Ken F. Cross Gymnasium.

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“Guys like Jaquan Lesane stepped up for us,” McCall said. “Carnell (Lewis) played big minutes. Justin Spaulding played big minutes. Guys were just finding me and it all just came together to get the dub.”

McCall was 7-of-10 on 2-point shot attempts, 4-of-5 from 3-point range, added a free throw to go along with five rebounds and a team-high four steals.

Jackson Pait had 24 points for West Bladen, including 9-of-11 from the free throw line, Jamari Adams-Peterson had 15 and Lesane came off the bench to score 12. Kendall Lessane scored eight points and collected a team-high seven rebounds.

“I thought it was Kendell’s second best game he’s played since he’s been here,” West Bladen coach Travis Pait. “He was a presence inside, went and rebounded it. Obviously, Tylik played amazing.

“There’s no question Jaquan was the player of the game. His energy was amazing. He was really good defensively and he can score the ball. We felt like he set the tone for us.”

McCall made a 3-point field goal and Adams-Peterson scored off a pass from Jackson Pait as the Knights scored the first five points and never trailed.

“I think we did good,” said Adams-Peterson, who connected on a trio of 3-pointers. “The bench came up. It was hyped and it brought us energy.”

West Bladen (7-4) is scheduled to play West Brunswick (8-3) at 8 p.m. Tuesday for the title. West Brunswick defeated Berean Baptist 65-41 on Monday. West Bladen defeated the Trojans 71-35 in last year’s championship game.

In Monday’s consolation bracket, Clinton beat South Columbus 55-48 and West Columbus edged Midway 67-64.

Tuesday’s other games have South Columbus (3-4) playing Midway (4-6) for seventh place at 2 p.m., Clinton (5-3) playing West Columbus (3-5) for fifth place at 4 p.m. and Hoke County (4-5) playing Berean Baptist (6-5) for third place at 6 p.m. Admission is $8.

Hoke County featured a strong inside game led by 6-foot-5 senior Savion Kinston, who scored all of his 16 points in the second half, and 6-4 Josiah Jacobs.

“They gave us some trouble inside,” McCall said. “We had to figure out how to box them out. They’re pretty strong, but you just got to fight through it and that’s what we did.”

The Knights built a 20-10 lead by the end of the first quarter. Hoke County tried to make runs, cutting it to 34-28 late in the second quarter, but never got closer the rest of the way.

HOKE COUNTY (73) — Gabriel McLeod 19, Kelton McArn 3, Jaiden Morrison 10, Machai Brown 14, Jacobi Simmons 5, Travis Murray 2, Josiah Jacobs 2, Savion Kinston 16, Tamalii Murray 2.

WEST BLADEN (90) — Jackson Pait 24, Damarion Bryant 4, Tylik McCall 27, Kendall Lessane 8, Keonta Hill, Jaquan Lesane 12, Jamari Adams-Peterson 15, Carnell Lewis, Cyncere Jessup, Justin Spaulding.