West Bladen boys knock off rival East Bladen 55-33

West Bladen may not have been “great” in a 55-33 victory against East Bladen on Wednesday night in front of a packed crowd inside Ken F. Cross Gymnasium, but the Knights had more than enough to post its seventh straight victory over their county rivals.

Jackson Pait and Jamari Adams-Peterson combined for 26 points and 12 rebounds as West Bladen (9-5) opened an early lead and never looked back against an East Bladen squad that showed more fight than its 79-45 loss to the Knights on Dec. 9.

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“I didn’t think we were great tonight,” West Bladen coach Travis Pait said. “I thought we did some good things defensively. I thought Keonta Hill was amazing tonight. We battled the flu with a couple of kids. Didn’t know if a couple of kids were going to play. And then they went out and played big minutes. So that was good.”

Jackson Pait had 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists while Adams-Peterson also scored 13 points to go along with five rebounds and three steals.

Jaden Lewis scored nine points to lead East Bladen (2-11).

“No disrespect to those (West Bladen) kids, but we beat ourselves,” East Bladen coach Aking Elting said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. We had the opportunity to make a good run, but we beat ourselves with turnovers. Defense was good, but the offensive end was hurting us.”

After East Bladen’s Khalil McKoy scored the first basket of the game, the Knights went on a 10-0 run highlighted by 3-point field goals from Pait and Adams-Peterson. The Eagles never recovered.

West Bladen led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter. Pait’s 3-point with a minute left in the second quarter sent the Knights to the dressing room with a 28-11 advantage.

East Bladen never came closer than 11 points in the second half. West Bladen outscored the Eagles 17-8 in the fourth quarter, including a 10-2 run over the final three minutes that sealed it.

“Obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball like we had been, but that’s OK,” Travis Pait said. “We did some other things. I thought we rebounded at a high rate. I thought we were good at times and the half court rotations (on defense) were not bad. I thought Carnell Lewis did a good job. I thought we played extremely hard. But, hey, any time you can beat your rival, you’ll take it. Any time you get a win, we’ll take that as well.”

East Bladen was coming off its second win this season Tuesday, a xx victory against Union in a Carolina Conference contest. The Eagles lost several games early in the season by large margins, but three of their last four losses prior to Wednesday had been by a combined 10 points.

“They did not give up,” Elting said. “So, I commend my team for not giving up. They did much better than the last time (against West Bladen).”

EAST BLADEN (33) – Keyshawn Kemp 6, Tevin McLean 5, Khalil McKoy 2, John Monroe, Landyn Scott 3, Dashon Campbell 8, Jaden Lewis 9.

WEST BLADEN (55) – Jackson Pait 13, Demarion Bryant, Sayvion Covington, Tylik McCall 9, Kendell Lessane 5, Keonta Hill 6, Jaquan Lesane 3, Jamari Adams-Peterson 13, Carnell Lewis 6, Cyncere Jessup, Blake Britt, Justin Spaulding.