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Photos by Kenneth Armstrong
Senior Stefan McDonald and junior Sayaun Dent scored 20 points each, and junior John Bowen made some key plays late as West Bladen rallied for a 73-68 victory over top-seeded Heide Trask Wednesday night in a Four County Conference Tournament boys semi-final basketball game at Union High.
Coach Travis Pait’s Knights raised their record to 20-6 and will play the Clinton/Wallace-Rose Hill winner in Friday’s 7:30 boys championship game at Union.
West Bladen trailed 45-33 late in the third period and was down 49-40 at the quarter break. However the Knights poured in 33 points in the final quarter led by 10 points from Bowen, 9 from Dent and 8 by McDonald.
Bowen banked in a runner then turned a McDonald feed into a lay-up. McDonald found Dent under the basket for another lay-up that sliced the Trask lead to 50-46 with 6:26 left.
Dent and McDonald bombed in 3-point shots that whittled the Titan lead to 53-52. Bowen tied the game 54-54 with 2 free throws, and Dent put back a rebound to edge the Knights ahead 56-54 with 4:31 on the clock.
Titan star Tynaffit Davis who led all scorers with 28 points tied the game with a jump hook, but Dent gave West a 58-56 lead with a pair of free throws.
A Davis follow tied the game again, but McDonald nailed a 3-point shot with 3:44 remaining to put the Knights ahead 61-58. After Trask missed 2 foul shots, Knight sophmore Shaquille Johnson dunked in a rebound, and Johnson popped in a turn-around 15-footer for a 65-58 West lead with 2:47 remaining.
Davis delivered a 3-point play, and after a technical foul, the Titans hit 3 of 4 free throws to narrow the margin to 65-64 with 1:29 left.
McDonald converted 2 free throws for a 67-64 West lead. Davis then missed 3 of 4 free throws. West Bladen missed 2 free throws with 27 seconds remaining, but Bowen grabbed the rebound, was fouled and canned both shots for a 69-65 Knight lead.
Senior Jacquan London swished a 3-point shot with 17 seconds left to whittle the lead to 69-68. Sophmore Jonathan Robinson was fouled and sank both free throws with 15 seconds on the clock for a 71-68 West lead.
Bowen claimed a key defensive rebound, was fouled and hit both foul shots with 7 seconds remaining to seal the verdict.
“We battled,” said Coach Pait. “The kids played tough on offense. We ran our cuts and held on to the ball. They try to bully you with their defense. They are unbelievably talented, but we stood up to them in the fourth quarter.”
McDonald filled up the stat sheet with 6 assists, 4 steals and 4 rebounds. Dent grabbed 7 rebounds. Johnson scored 13 points and corralled a game-high 8 rebounds. Bowen finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
Dent scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half. “We told the kids at halftime to feed Sayaun like we were trying to get him 30 points,” said Coach Pait. “Jonathan Robinson and Shaq (Johnson) did an unbelievable job setting screens for him in the second half.”
West broke on top 6-0 to begin the game. A pair of McDonald assists produced lay-ups for Robinson and Johnson, and Robinson wrapped a pass behind him to a cutting Bowen for a lay-up. Another McDonald assist led to a Dent lay-up and an 8-2 lead.
McDonald flipped in a one-hander then buried a 3-point shot for a 13-9 lead. Dent’s jump-hook turned into a 3-point play and a 16-12 West lead. Trask scored the final 3 baskets of the period to go up 18-16.
Another McDonald assist resulted in a lay-up for sophmore Jimmy Williams that kept West within 20-18. Senior Jonathan Jordan knocked down a 3-point shot and added a lay-up as Trask went up 27-18.
Johnson put back a rebound and tacked on a free throw, and McDonald connected from 15 feet to pull West within 27-23. London’s 3-ball and lay-up upped the count to 32-23.
McDonald tossed in a one-hander from 6 feet, but Trask’s Kansas Bannerman spun to the basket to give the Titans a 34-25 halftime lead.
Johnson and Dent scored on follow shots, Dent hit 2 free throws and Robinson converted a Johnson assist into a lay-up that trimmed the margin to 39-33.
Davis’ dunk-follow capped a 6-0 run that gave Trask the 45-33 lead at the 2:04 mark. McDonald sank 3 of 4 free throws, and Johnson put back a rebound to slice the lead to 47-40.
London followed Davis with 11 points for Trask, and Tiyuan Ballard finished with 8.
West Bladen (73) – Jimmy Williams 2, Keshawn Lewis, Stefan McDonald 20, Sayaun Dent 20, Malique McDowell, Shaquille Johnson 13, Jonathan Robinson 6, Will Lambeth, John Bowen 12.
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