Four County Conference Player of the Year Rahu Purdie leads a group of three West Bladen players named to the All-Four County Conference Boys Basketball Team. East Bladen senior Farrell Murchison was also named to the squad.
Named along with Purdie from Four County Champion West Bladen were his back-court mates senior Malcolm Vaught and junior Stefan McDonald.
“I don’t know of anyone that has a group of 3 guards as good as ours,” stated Knight Coach Travis Pait. “They are well deserving of the All-Conference honors.”
“Malcolm and Stefan could have played point guard at any other school in our conference,” said Coach Pait. “And our conference is really good. They both sacrificed for the good of the team.”
Purdie, a senior, led the Knights with an 18.5 scoring average. “I don’t know of a better guard in our area than Rahu,” said Pait. “I really hope he gets some state-wide recognition.”
Purdie racked up 25 points in a big win over Lumberton in the Woodmen of the World Christmas Tournament, poured in 30 points in a tough loss at Heide Trask, then netted 29 points in a key win over Midway that snapped a 3-game losing streak for the Knights and began a 10-game conference winning streak.
“Malcolm and Rahu made each other better,” continued Coach Pait. “They went at each other every day in practice.” Vaught was the Knights second leading scorer with an 11.6 average.
“Malcolm is probably in the top 3 or 4 in number of games started at West Bladen,” said Pait. “He had to start right away as a freshman and has started for all 4 years. I don’t know what it’s going to be like without Malcolm Vaught at West Bladen,”
Coach Pait praised Vaught’s defense saying, “Rahu played the other team’s point guard, and Malcolm had to match up against the other guard – guys who were sometimes 4 or 5 inches taller than him – and he did a great job.”
McDonald averaged 11.3 points per game. “Stefan really came into his own this year,” said Coach Pait. “He is really good in the open floor and attacking the basket, but at Clinton he was the best player on the floor – not with his scoring but with his defense and rebounding.”
McDonald’s 5 steals and 9 points sparked a 16-2 fourth quarter run that carried the Knights to a 73-61 win at Clinton that put the Knights in sole possession of first place in the last week of the season. McDonald finished that game with a season-high 19 points.
Murchison led the East Bladen scoring with a 12.3 scoring average and was also a force on the boards for the Eagles.He was one of the team’s better 3-point shooters.
Murchison pumped in 21 points in a December game against 4-A Wilmington Ashley and poured in 28 points before fouling out in an overtime loss at Wallace-Rose Hill.
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