By Sonny Jones
Down the stretch we come and still a lot on the line with two weeks remaining in the high school basketball regular season.
There’s a three-way tie for first place in the Southeastern Athletic Conference boys standings with only three games remaining. East Bladen (15-4 overall), Red Springs (15-6) and St. Pauls (11-10) each are 7-2 in league play with West Bladen (15-6) only a game back at 6-3.
Of course, there will be match-ups between the teams. A first-round bye in the upcoming conference tournament goes to the regular-season champion.
Here are the remaining schedules for the contenders:
East Bladen: Friday at Fairmont, Feb. 7 home vs. Red Springs, Feb. 10 at St. Pauls
West Bladen: Friday home vs. Red Springs, Feb. 7 home vs. St. Pauls, Feb. 10 at Midway
Red Springs: Friday at West Bladen, Feb. 7 at East Bladen, Feb. 10 home vs. Fairmont
St. Pauls: Friday home vs. Clinton, Feb. 7 at West Bladen, Feb. 10 home vs. East Bladen
Notice that each contending team only has one game remaining against a non-contending team.
In the SAC-7 girls standings, the key game locally is Tuesday’s Red Springs at East Bladen game. Red Springs knocked off the Eagles 44-40 on Jan. 17. The teams are battling for third place with East Bladen (14-5, 6-3 conference) holding a one-game edge over the Red Devils (11-10, 5-4 conference).
Fairmont (19-3 overall) leads with a 9-1 conference record followed by St. Pauls (14-4) at 8-1, then East Bladen and Red Springs. St. Pauls avoided an upset Wednesday in slipping past Midway 69-66 in overtime.
If we assume — which we all know what happens when we do — that East Bladen loses at Fairmont and at St. Pauls and that Red Springs beats West Bladen and loses against Fairmont, then Tuesday’s game will decide third place.
We shall see how it turns out. It’s fun and interesting to follow.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 2013 — California Institute of Technology’s baseball team ends a 228-game losing streak with a 9-7 victory against Pacifica, the Beavers’ first win in nearly 10 years. Caltech hadn’t won since Feb. 15, 2003, 5-4 against Cal State-Monterey Bay.
POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY
• PGA: Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 3 p.m., GOLF
• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Pittsburgh at Duke, 6 p.m., ACCN
• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Virginia at North Carolina, 6 p.m., BALLY SOUTH
• BASKETBALL: High Point at UNC Asheville, 7 p.m., ESPNU
• NFL: Pro Bowl Skills Showdown, 7 p.m., ESPN
• NBA: Memphis at Cleveland, 7:30 p.m., TNT
• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: NC State at Georgia Tech, 8 p.m., ACCN
• FOOTBALL: Shrine Bowl – East vs. West, 8:30 p.m., NFLN
• NBA: LA Clippers at Milwaukee, 10 p.m., TNT
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com.
About Author
