East Bladen’s Ronnie Covington goes up for a lay-in. Courtsey Photo from Kenneth Armstrong

East Bladen’s Ronnie Covington goes up for a lay-in.

Courtsey Photo from Kenneth Armstrong

EAST BLADEN

ELIZABETHTOWN — The East Bladen Eagles defeated the Topsail Pirates for a 49-45 victory in a non-conference match-up on Thursday night.

East Bladen junior guard Dominck Collins dropped 15 points in the host victory but sophomore guard Tevin McLean sealed the victory with some clutch shooting at the free-throw line.

There were seven lead-changes during the game with Collins dropping the decisive go-ahead bucket with 1:07 remaining in the fourth.

The Pirates were led by senior forward Landon Kaiser with 12 points and they had two other players with 11 points.

The Eagles played against Purnell Swett on Friday night for their second straight game of a back-to-back and they were defeated 56-45 away from home.

East Bladen’s Shannon Hankins and Rodney Lacewell combined for 26 points despite the loss; Hankins finished the night with 14 points and Lacewell dropped 12 points from the center position.

East Bladen are now 2-1 on the season and they’ll host West Bladen in their next game this Tuesday in a non-conference match-up.

WEST BLADEN

WILLMINGTON — The Willmington-Hoggard Vikings defeated the West Bladen Knights for a 49-42 victory in a non-conference match-up on Thursday. Hoggard was able to surpass their opponents in the final minutes of the game with a clutch three-pointer from Hunter McGrath and a lay-in from Flanner Patterson. West Bladen junior center Chase Williams had another big game to finish the night with 15 points and he gathered 12 rebounds despite being in foul trouble early in the first half.

West Bladen sophomore guard Jackson Pait hit some crucial three-pointers down the stretch to finish the night with nine points as the Knights second leading scorer. The Vikings were led by McGrath with 14 points to secure their second win of the new season.

West Bladen suffered their first loss of the season and are now 3-1 on the year with plenty of basketball left to play. West Bladen will travel away to East Bladen this Tuesday for their next game in a non-conference match-up.