By John Clark
RED SPRINGS – It wasn’t pretty Tuesday night. There were a lot of missed shots by both teams. But West Bladen’s Knights survived with a 33-25 Southeastern Athletic Conference boys’ basketball victory over Red Springs.
It was the 14th straight victory for the Knights who remain atop the SAC with a 5-0 record and are 16-1 overall. West Bladen will visit Clinton Friday night.
Freshman Kendell Lessane canned 2 free throws to begin the 4th quarter and put West up 27-19, but Red Devil star Kaedon Porter banked in a 3-pointer to trim the margin to 27-22 with 3:46 left.
After junior Hezekiah Adams made another free throw, junior Chase Williams rammed a dunk past a defender off a feed from sophomore Jackson Pait, then tacked on a free throw to boost the lead to 31-22 at the 2:26 mark.
Porter banked in a fade-away with 2:11 left. Adams and Porter traded free throws for a 32-25 margin with 1:31 on the clock. The Knights missed 6 of their final 7 free throws, but Adams made one for the final margin.
“It went about like I expected,” said Knight Coach Travis Pait. “Low scoring, hard game on the road. We didn’t play bad. I thought we guarded great, but we missed shots and didn’t make free throws (10 for 23).”
As a team the Knights made only 3 of 20 3-point shots and shot 25% from the field. Red Springs was 1 for 9 from 3-point range and shot 29% from the field.
“You have to be able to win ugly,” continued Coach Pait. “To play a close one was good for us. Coach Patterson (Glenn, Jr.) has a good team that has played a really tough schedule.”
Williams led the Knights with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals despite sitting out over 10 minutes due to foul trouble. Pait followed with 8 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Sophomore Tylik McCall finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds. Adams contributed 4 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals.
Porter poured in 20 of the 25 points and sparked a 10-5 Red Devil run in the 1st 5 minutes with 8 points. McCall knocked in a corner 3-ball, and Pait sank 2 free throws. Williams scored in transition off a Pait assist to trim the margin to 10-7.
Williams drained a 15-footer to start the 2nd period then added a free throw. Adams hurled in a ‘duck and dive’ 10-foot runner that edged West ahead 12-11, but Porter answered quickly for Red Springs. Pait and McCall buried 3-point shots to vault the Knights in front 18-13 at halftime.
A Pait assist resulted in a Williams jump-hook to begin the 2nd half. Another Porter bank shot narrowed the lead to 20-15, but Williams hit a free throw, and McCall stole the ball and dropped in a lay-up for a 23-15 lead. Pait muscled in a runner past a defender, but Porter beat the quarter buzzer to cut the lead to 25-19.
West Bladen 7 11 7 8 — 33
Red Springs 10 3 6 6 — 25
West Bladen (33) — Jackson Pait 8, Hezekiah Adams 4, Tylik McCall 8, Kendell Lessane 2, Andre Moore, Ty’Leak Ballard, Chase Williams 11.
Red Springs (25) — Darren Wilkins, Kaedon Porter 20, Justice McMillian 1, K. Brown, Curtis Wilson, Makhi Arthur 2, Jaylen Rush 2, I. Locklear, S. Murray, Timothy Hammonds, G. Porter.
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