ROSE HILL — Last week Keyshawn Kemp sat on bench as East Bladen lost in overtime at East Columbus.
Wednesday, the senior forward exploded and more than made amends for missing the regular season finale for discipline reasons.
Kemp scored 32 points, including 10 in two overtimes, grabbed 11 rebounds and had four steals as the fourth-seeded Eagles outlasted top-seeded East Columbus 66-61 in the semifinals of the Carolina Conference boys’ basketball tournament.
“I felt like he wanted this for the team for missing the last game against East Columbus,” East Bladen coach Aking Elting said. “He came out and performed. He really was locked in.”
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The Eagles (9-15) advanced to Friday’s championship game at Union High School against the winner of Thursday’s game between West Columbus and North Duplin.
East Columbus (11-10) shared the Carolina Conference regular season title with West Columbus, but earned the top seed because of its two wins against the Vikings.
It was the second time in three meetings that East Bladen defeated the Gators. The Eagles gave East Columbus its first conference loss, 58-51, on Jan. 20. East Columbus won last Thursday 51-45 in overtime.
“I just think we had a chip on our shoulder (tonight) and the guys played hard,” Elting said.
Dashon Campbell scored 11 points and had six rebounds for East Bladen.
Kevon Stackhouse led East Columbus with 28 points.
EAST BLADEN (66) — Keyshawn Kemp 32, Tevin McLean 3, Khalil McKoy 5, John Monroe 2, Jaden Lewis 8, Landyn Scott, Benjamin Lent, Dashon Campbell 11, Lakota Schmale 5.
EAST COLUMBUS (61) — K.J. Thurman 7, Adrion Jenrette 9, Ryan Cobb 3, Zay Hines, Kevon Stackhouse 28, Tyron Keaton, Rudy Jernigen 14.
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