Not even scoring a school-record 45 points could keep Jackson Pait from talking about his teammates.

The senior guard drained eight 3-point field goals and seven 2-pointers on a combined 28 attempts and was 7-of-11 from the free throw line Friday night as West Bladen rolled past Whiteville 80-59 in a Southeastern Conference high school boys’ basketball game played inside Ken F. Cross Gymnasium.

“It’s a lot easier when you’re playing with this group of guys,” said Pait, who eclipsed the previous record of 41 set by Tyre Boykin on Jan. 27, 2020. “Tylik (McCall) takes so much pressure off of me. The rest of the team takes so much pressure off of me.

“It’s just how good my teammates are. It ends up opening everything up for me because (opponents) are not able to hug (defensively). Every single point has something to do with a teammate. A bunch of them are off of assists. It’s really, truly all the team, little me, all God,” Pait said.

Master sports schedule | Standings

West Bladen (15-5, 6-0 Southeastern) moved closer to winning a fourth straight conference title. The Knights have a two-game lead over Fairmont (8-11, 4-2 Southeastern) and South Brunswick (12-6, 4-2 Southeastern) with four games remaining.

Teron Legette led Whiteville (9-9, 3-3 Southeastern) with 15 points.

“We asked in the summer for (Jackson and Tylik) to shoot 50 shots a game between the two of you,” said West Bladen coach Travis Pait, Jackson’s father. “Not everybody is going to like it, but it’s what we’re going to do to open up for everybody else. We’re going to play this crazy way and you’re going to catch the devil over it, and they have, especially Jackson, which is fine.

“What (Jackson) and Tylik do is really hard and they both had amazing seasons,” Coach Pait said. “But to the (other) guys it makes no difference. If either one of them misses, the guys are like ‘shoot it, shoot it. They want (Jackson and Tylik) to shoot it because they also know they are very willing passers.”

McCall finished with 15 points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Jamari Adams-Peterson added 11 points and six rebounds.

West Bladen’s breakneck pace of play, which sees virtually full substitutions every 90 seconds, forced 25 Whiteville turnovers. The Knights were credited with 17 steals.

The Wolfpack kept up with West Bladen for the first quarter, trailing only 20-17. The Knights took control in the second quarter when Pait and McCall combined for 22 points for a 47-32 halftime lead. Whiteville never came closer than 13 in the second half.

Pait scored 11 points in the first quarter, 13 in the second, 13 in the third and seven in the fourth.

“I haven’t necessarily had the season I want shooting the ball,” Pait said, “but I’ve had a pretty good season passing the ball, rebounding and scoring, but not shooting the ball well.

“I came in (Friday) morning and got some shots up, shot a bunch before the game and just trying to get in that mindset. Maybe about the end of the first half when I hit the three with the kid closing out in my face, that’s really when I started feeling it going.”

WHITEVILLE (59) — Christian Lacewell, Jaiden Lambert, Emanuel Kemp 5, Tyson Wilcox, Corey Faison 8, Caleb McLean 5, Logan Little 3, Trayvionne Williams 12, Teron Legette 15, Ty’lae Rose 11.

WEST BLADEN (80) — Jackson Pait 45, Damarion Bryant, Tylik McCall 15, Kendall Lessane 4, Keonta Hill 2, Jaquan Lesane, Jamari Adams-Peterson 11, Carnell Lewis 2, Cyncere Jessup, Blake Britt 1, Justin Spaulding.

Sonny Jones can be reached at [email protected].