By Sonny Jones
ELIZABETHTOWN — Zamar Lewis dominated the inside and Malcolm Bolden had the range from outside in helping East Bladen move into a three-way tie for first place with one game remaining.
Lewis scored 19 points, hauled down 26 rebounds and blocked six shots and Bolden scored 23 points, which included four 3-point field goals, Tuesday in the Eagles’ 85-74 win against Red Springs in a Southeastern Athletic Conference basketball game.
Jacob Nixon added 15 points and seven assists for East Bladen, which bounced back from a pair of heartbreaking overtime losses last week.
The Eagles are 16-5 overall and 8-3 in league play. They find themselves tied with West Bladen and St. Pauls atop the SAC standings following West Bladen’s 52-43 win against St. Pauls on Tuesday.
East Bladen closes regular season play Friday at St. Pauls (12-11, 8-3 SAC). West Bladen (17-6, 8-3 SAC) plays at Midway (12-9, 4-7 SAC).
The regular season champion will be awarded the conference’s top seed for the state playoffs. If two teams tie for first, then the first tiebreaker is head-to-head meetings. The second tiebreaker would be the Ratings Percentage Index ranking that wouldn’t be finalized until the conclusion of the conference tournament.
Tuesday night, East Bladen played like it wanted to win a conference championship. The Eagles scored the first 12 points in three minutes and spent the rest of the game fending off attempted rallies by Red Springs.
Bolden began with consecutive 3-pointers in the opening minute, then had a role in the next three baskets, scoring one on a drive, and twice passing to Yontee Dobson for buckets.
Red Springs cut it to 15-13 on a 3-pointer by Jaylen Sturdivant with 1:40 left in the first quarter, but the Eagles countered with four straight baskets — two by Lewis, one by Cameron White and one by Bolden — for a 24-13 lead.
A pair of Rodney Lacwell baskets off passes from Malaki Monroe in between a bucket by Red Springs’ Jamey Tedder put the Eagles up 34-23 with just over two minutes left in the second quarter. Red Springs cut it to 36-30 at half when Carnelius Manning scored off an offensive rebound with one second remaining.
Lewis scored 10 points and Monroe had seven in the third quarter as the Eagles outscored Red Springs 12-4 in the final minutes for a 62-48 lead.
Red Springs cut it to 64-56 on a basket by Porter and a 3-pointer by Makhi Arthur with 6:45 remaining, but never came closer than eight points the rest of the way. Nixon scored eight points and Bolden had seven to help East Bladen hold off Red Springs’ attempted comeback.
Prior to the game, East Bladen recognized seniors NyQuan Richardson, Bolden, Monroe, White, Dobson, Nixon and Lewis, who were playing their final regular season home game.
Red Springs 13 17 18 26 — 74
East Bladen 24 12 26 23 — 85
RED SPRINGS (74) — Carnelius Manning 5, Kaedon Porter 22, Jamey Tedder 2, Kohnner Oxendine 2, Jasiah Williams, Makhi Arthur 23, Jaylen Sturdivant 20, Timothy Hammonds.
EAST BLADEN (85) — Dominick Collins 4, Malcolm Bolden 23, NyQuen Richardson, Malaki Monroe 9, Lee Barnes, Cameron White 2, Yontee Dobson 6, Jacob Nixon 15, Chris Harding, Zamar Lewis 19, Peyton Tatum, Rodney Lacewell 7.
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