East Bladen’s Chace Butler makeas a move around his defender.
FRIDAY NIGHT ROUNDUP
BURGAW — The East Bladen Eagles defeated the Pender Patriots for a 62-48 victory on Friday night in a Waccamaw Conference clash on the hardwood.
East Bladen junior guard Dominick Collins had a quiet first half with only four points to his name but he came out the intermission like a man possessed as he went on to drop 15 points in the final two quarters of the game.
The Eagles sharpshooter and senior guard Lee Barnes also finished the night with 14 points as East Bladen secured their second straight win to start the New Year.
Pender were led by their senior guard Cyrus Page with 18 points and junior forward Malcolm Driver concluded his night with 16 points in the defeat.
The game started with Barnes exploding from behind the arc with three made attempts to help get the visitors ahead by 35-19 at the break. East Bladen sophomore forward Ronnie Covington also piled on seven points before the halftime buzzer.
Collins got active in the third quarter with some tough finishes at the rim and his aggression in the lane got him some easy ones to fall at the charity stripe.
East Bladen senior center Rodney Laccewell snagged six rebounds for the game to lead his team and he also got involved in the third quarter scoring with by draining a free throw. The visitors held firm defensively and they closed an excellent quarter of play with Barnes shooting dagger three from the corner to take a 10 point lead into the fourth.
The Eagles kept their foot on the gas and their opponents struggled to keep up with the pace as the hosts were held to just ten in the final quarter of play.
Pender now falls to 2-7 overall and slides to fifth in the conference standings with a 1-2 record. Head Coach Aking Elting and the Eagles stay unbeaten at the top of the Waccamaw standings with a 3-0 record. They’ll take on the Heide Trask Titans away from home this Tuesday for their next game in conference play.
Heide Trask currently sits behind the Eagles with a 2-0 record in conference play and their overall record so far this season is 8-4. South Columbus moves up to third in the standings after their win over county rivals East Columbus as they climb to 2-1 and West Columbus takes the fourth spot in the standings at 1-1.
OTHER RESULTS AROUND WACCAMAW/SAC 6:
West Columbus(5-4, 1-1) 70, Whiteville(3-9, 0-2) 53
South Columbus(7-8, 2-1) 57, East Columbus(3-7, 0-3) 47
Dillon(8-4) 61, Red Springs(5-8) 27