West survives late surge

WEST BLADEN

BLADENBORO — The West Bladen Knights defeated the Midway Raiders in a 41-34 victory on Tuesday night in a SAC 6 matchup.

West Bladen didn’t have the best night shooting but the team did enough to pull out the victory in the end after Midway pushed the Knights through four quarters of basketball.

Junior guard Hezekiah Adams led the Knights in scoring with 17 points as he splashed three-pointers, free-throws, and finished inside on fastbreaks. Adams was the only Knight in double-digit scoring as the Raiders made it difficult for them by closing down on their potent scorers.

Despite the Knights struggling on offense, they led for the majority of the game but the low scoring night played into the hands of their opponents.

Midway junior guard Ke’mari McNeil led all scorers with 19 points and his ability to create his own shot gave the Raiders a one-point advantage at the beginning of the fourth quarter when drained a mid-range shot while still on the move. The Raiders slight advantage didn’t last very long as West Bladen reclaimed the lead on their next possession with a 2-for-2 effort at the line from Chase Williams. The host was able to force the turnover on defense and senior guard Andre Moore proceeded to splash from behind the three-point line to make the score 30-26.

The visitors responded with freshmen Tanner Williams getting inside and floating his shot over his defender’s head to cut the deficit. Both teams swapped possession by turning the ball over and they each missed from range before Adams converted a 2-and-1 opportunity to preserve the Knights slight advantage. Midway made a couple of more mistakes while handling the rock on offense but their opponents failed to punish them further.

McNeil caught a pass ahead while in transition and he gave the Raiders the points they desperately needed in order to pull within three of their opponents as time dwindled down. Sophomore guard Jackson Pait went 1-for-2 at the line to keep the Knights ahead by four with 2:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. Midway came out of a timeout and scored on a designed play for senior guard Tripp Westbrook for an immediate response.

Chase Williams got most of the Raiders attention on defense as they swarmed the 6 ‘7 center with two or three defenders; but he used his opponents overzealousness on the defensive side of the ball against them by feeding Adams inside to make the score 36-32. Westbrook made a solid move towards the baseline but his shot rattled out of the rim and the visitors were forced to send Williams to the line for two.

Williams proceeded to make both free throws with under a minute left to play before the final buzzer. Midway forced their shot on the other side of the floor and the host put them out of their misery at the free throw line. West Bladen secured their 16th straight victory and stays atop the SAC 6 Conference with a perfect 7-0 record.

West Bladen will have an opportunity to clinch their second conference title in a row if they can win their next two games against St. Pauls and Fairmont. They’ll travel to St. Pauls for their next conference match-up this Friday.

EAST BLADEN

CERRO GORDO — The West Columbus Vikings defeated the East Bladen Eagles for a 72-58 victory on Tuesday night. West Columbus were led by freshman forward Larry Graham with 19 points to lead all scorers, senior guard Justin Bellamy finished the night with 14 points and senior guard Unique Kelly finished behind him with 12 points. The Vikings clinched the Waccamaw Conference top playoff seed for 1A with their victory over the Eagles and they continue to hold second place in the standings as they moved to 7-2 in conference action.

The Eagles were led in scoring by senior center Payton Tatum with 15 points, junior guard Domnick Collins finished his night with 12 points, and senior guard Lee Barnes finished his night with 10 points. East Bladen’s overall record moves to 9-10 and they slip to fifth place in the conference standings with a 4-6 record in conference.

They’ll take on the first-place Heide Trask Titans this Friday for their next game in conference action. West Columbus will clash with the South Columbus Stallions on Friday night for their next match-up.

RESULTS AROUND WACCAMAW/SAC 6 (Boys):

Heide Trask (16-4, 8-0) 75, South Columbus (11-10, 6-3) 60

Whiteville (6-12, 3-5) 58, Pender (3-14, 1-8) 38

Fairmont (15-4, 6-1) 71, St. Pauls (9-12, 2-5) 49

Red Springs (9-12, 4-3) 54, Clintonn (8-10, 0-7) 22