By Sonny Jones
After each playing a game to open their seasons the eight Bladen County middle school basketball teams have leapt right in to tournament play. Then, a week from this Thursday, it’s back to the regular season.
The Bladen County tournament is being held inside Samuel C. Boger Gymnasium at Elizabethtown Middle School. Girls’ teams opened play Tuesday with Bladenboro and Elizabethtown winning. Boys’ team take to the court this afternoon with Bladenboro playing Tar Heel at 4 p.m. followed by Clarkton School of Discovery playing Elizabethtown.
Championship games are scheduled Thursday with Bladenboro playing Elizabethtown for the girls’ title at 4 p.m. followed by the boys’ championship game between today’s winners.
Columbus County middle schools also are having a tournament among its six schools.
Playing a county tournament to open the season is an interesting idea. It should bring some added excitement early in the season. Go support these young players if you get a chance.
• The 10 middle schools in Bladen and Columbus counties are divided into two divisions for Waccamaw Conference play. Division A includes Bladenboro, Clarkton School of Discovery, Nakina, Tabor City and Williams Township. Division AA includes Elizabethtown, Tar Heel, East Columbus, West Columbus and Whiteville Central.
• The East Bladen boys basketball team continued to roll along Tuesday night, beating Red Springs 64-50. The Eagles are 5-0 in Southeastern Conference play and 13-2 overall. They will face a stern test Friday at home against St. Pauls. The Bulldogs, 4-1 in the league and 8-9 overall, got off to a slow start against tough competition, but have been coming on strong.
• As for the rest of the Bladen high school basketball teams, Tuesday night would best be forgotten. The East Bladen JV boys won, but the West Bladen boys, girls and JV boys along with the East Bladen girls lost. It’s on to Friday when West Bladen hosts Midway and East Bladen hosts St. Pauls.
• Which team is going to pull the upset in this weekend’s NFL playoffs? Surely the four home teams aren’t all going to win. Best bets appear to be Sunday with Cincinnati at Buffalo and Dallas at San Francisco.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 2016 — Duke, after dropping three of its last five games, falls out of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll after 312 straight weeks.
POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY
• WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES: 11 a.m., ESPNU
• SOCCER: AC Milan vs. Inter Milan, 2 p.m., CBSSN
• TENNIS: Australian Open (taped), 3 p.m., ESPN2
• NHL: Boston at N.Y. Islanders, 7:30 p.m., TNT
• NBA: Atlanta at Dallas, 7:45 p.m., ESPN
• TENNIS: Australian Open, 9 p.m., ESPN2
• NHL: Dallas at San Jose, 10 p.m., TNT
• NBA: Minnesota at Denver, 10:05 p.m., ESPN
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com.
About Author
