The NCHSAA State Basketball Playoffs begin Tuesday night with the West Bladen boys and East Bladen girls at home, and the East Bladen boys traveling to Ocracoke.
No. 30 Eastern Wayne (11-14) at No. 3 West Bladen (23-1)
Gametime 7 p.m.
West Bladen’s Knights were the Southeastern Athletic Conference tournament champions and regular season co-champions. They also won the Bladen Offroad Christmas Tournament with victories over No. 8 3A seed North Brunswick in the finals and No. 8 4A seed Lumberton in the semifinals.
Coach Travis Pait’s Knights split 2 meetings with No. 14 2A seed Fairmont and were 3-0 against No. 24 2A seed St. Pauls and No. 22 2A seed Midway. West Bladen was 2-0 against both No. 25 1A seed East Bladen and No. 31 2A seed South Columbus. They also defeated No. 6 1A seed West Columbus.
Chase Williams, a 6-8 junior, averages 17.1 points (ppg) and 8.9 rebounds (rpg) per game to lead the Knight attack. Hezekiah Adams, a 5-11 junior, contributes 12 ppg and 5 rpg, and 6-1 sophomore guard Jackson Pait follows with an 11.1 ppg average. Tylik McCall, a 6-3 sophomore, adds 7.9 ppg.
The Warriors feature 6-4 sophomore Charlie Thomas who scores 15.6 ppg. Six-foot sophomore Izeiah Oates averages 11.9 ppg. Other key contributors are 5-10 junior Zavion Burden (10.0 ppg) and 6-5 junior Jquarius Carr (8.7 ppg).
Eastern Wayne dropped a narrow 71-70 decision to No. 2 2A seed Goldsboro but dropped their other 2 meetings to the Cougars by 20-point margins. The Warriors defeated No. 29 2A seed Greene Central twice, but lost twice to No. 18 2A seed Wilson Beddingfield by narrow 82-75 and 72-70 margins. The Warriors also dropped a pair of 8-point decisions to No. 13 2A seed North Johnston.
No. 21 North Edgecombe (16-8) at No. 12 East Bladen (21-4)
Gametime 6 p.m.
East Bladen’s Lady Eagles were the Waccamaw Conference regular season co-champions and the Waccamaw tournament runners-up.
The Lady Eagles split their regular season meetings with No. 3 1A seed East Columbus before dropping a 50-43 decision in the tournament championship game. They also split their 2 games with both No. 22 4A seed Topsail and 4A opponent Purnell Swett.
East Bladen swept both meetings against No. 11 3A seed West Brunswick and won their only game with No. 19 4A seed Wilmington Laney. The Lady Eagles were 3-0 against No. 28 1A seed Pender and 2-0 against No. 32 2A seed South Columbus.
Iveonna “NeNe” Ward, a 5-7 junior, sparks the East Bladen attack averaging 19.1 points, 5.3 steals, 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Laila Smith, a 5-10 junior, contributes 15.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 3.3 assists per game.
Ariel Cromartie, a 5-9 sophomore, averages 9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game, and Niyah Wooten, a 5-9 sophomore, racks up 6.9 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. Sophomore Cabria Baldwin adds 3.5 rebounds and 2 steals per game.
North Edgecombe finished 14-2 and tied for the top spot in the Tar Roanoke 1A Conference and split their 2 games with conference champion Northampton County, the No. 7 1A seed. However, a conference tournament loss to No. 22 1A seed Weldon left the Lady Warriors with the league’s No. 2 playoff berth.
The Lady Warriors lost 2 of their 3 games with Weldon and dropped both decisions to No. 16 1A seed Washington County. North Edgecombe won both of their games with No. 17 1A seed Northwest Halifax but split a pair of contests with No. 32 1A seed Tarboro.
Diamond Wilson, a 5-4 sophomore, keys the Lady Warrior offense with 13.6 points, 3.7 assists and 3.1 steals per game. Junior Le’Lah Jenkins contributes 13.1 ppg, and sophomore Ke’Ziayh Pittman racks up 13.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 5 assists and 6.1 steals per game.
ChyAsia Garrett, a 5-9 senior, tallies 9.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Other key contributors are juniors ShyNiya Ricks (8.7 ppg) and Teana Ransome (8.2 ppg).
No. 25 East Bladen (10-12) at No. 8 Ocracoke (19-5)
East Bladen’s Eagles will make the 186-mile trip to Ocracoke Tuesday night to battle the Atlantic Conference champion Dolphins in the opening round of the Class 1A State Playoffs.
Coach Aking Elting’s Eagles placed 5th in the Waccamaw Conference but have played a number of state playoff teams including No. 3 2A seed West Bladen, No. 6 2A seed Heide Trask, No. 6 1A seed West Columbus, No. 7 1A seed Pamlico County and No. 31 2A seed South Columbus. Eight of the East Bladen losses were to that group, but they did split with South Columbus.
East Bladen swept a pair of games with No. 26 3A seed West Brunswick and with Class 4A opponent Topsail. The Eagles split with 4A foe Purnell Swett.
Junior Dominick Collins directs the Eagle offense from his point guard spot. A pair of tall seniors, 6-7 Rodney Lacewell and 6-5 Peyton Tatum, along with 6-3 sophomore Keyshawn Kemp control the inside game for the Eagles. Junior Kewone Maynor is very active defensively and sharp-shooting senior Lee Barnes provides an outside threat along with Collins.
Ocracoke was 9-1 in Atlantic Conference play losing only 1 of 3 games with No. 23 seed Bear Grass Charter. The Dolphins swept 3 games from No. 27 1A seed Columbia and won 2 games from No. 21 1A seed Hobgood Charter. The Dolphins suffered 2 losses in a holiday tournament in Maryland and also lost to No. 8 2A seed East Carteret and to No. 14 3A seed Croatan.
Landon Fuller, a 6-3 junior, leads the Dolphin offense scoring 16 points per game. Rahnier Lyons, a 6-5 senior, averages 14.5 ppg, and 5-11 junior Finn Kattenburg adds 11.9 ppg. Gavin Elicker, a 6-1 junior, adds 7.4 ppg.
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