Junior Sayaun Dent pumped in 22 points for West Bladen Friday night, and teammate Stefan McDonald handled the West Columbus pressure as they led the Knights to a 68-62 non-conference boys basketball victory at Cerro Gordo.
Junior center John Bowen tossed in 10 points, and sophmore Shaquille Johnson added 9 points for the winners. Senior teammate Daquan Lennon netted 8 points.
“Stefan played his butt off tonight,” said Knight Coach Travis Pait. “They pressed us hard all night, but we only had 14 turnovers. Our goal against a team that presses like that is to limit turnovers to 16. Last year we really had 3 point guards with Stefan, Rahu (Purdie) and Malcolm (Vaught), this year Stefan is the point guard.”
McDonald nailed a 3-point shot in the opening period and added 4 more points to keep the Knights within 15-13 at the quarter break. McDonald finished with 12 points.
“We did some things better tonight,” continued Coach Pait. “But we missed ten free throws early that kept us from building a lead.” For the game the Knights hit 21 of 43 free throws.
Dent dropped in 5 points in the second quarter, but the Vikings who were led by Latrael McCollum’s 21 points maintained a 31-28 halftime lead. McCollum blistered the nets with six 3-point baskets in the game.
The Knights outscored West Columbus 17-13 in the third period as Dent threw in 6 more points. West Bladen edged in front 45-44 at the quarter break.
“We made some adjustments at halftime,” noted Coach Pait. “Then we came out and played hard in the third quarter.”
Dent lit up the scoreboard with 9 more points in the final quarter, and Bowen added 4 points in the period as West Bladen racked up 23 points to secure the victory.
“Sayaun and John Bowen were really solid for us tonight,” said Coach Pait. “John had to play 29 minutes tonight because of the match-up problems we faced. Shaq (Johnson) made 2 really big plays for us in the fourth quarter.”
“We are really young, but we gained some confidence against the press tonight,” added Coach Pait. “Jimmy (Williams) and Keshawn (Lewis) played good defense and didn’t turn it over.”
Jacob Baldwin scored 13 points for West Columbus, and Fred Evans tallied 12 points.
West Bladen improved to 2-0 with the win and will travel to unbeaten Fairmont Wednesday night.
West Bladen (68) – Jimmy Williams 2, Keshawn Lewis 4, Daquan Lennon 8, Stefan McDonald 12, Sayaun Dent 22, Shaquille Johnson 9, Jonathan Robinson, John Bowen 10.
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