West Bladen’s Knights travel to East Bladen Tuesday night for the first basketball meetings of the season between Bladen County’s two high schools.
Coach Travis Pait’s Knights have won ten games in a row after dropping their first two games of the season. The Knights are 3-0 in Four County Conference play and 10-2 overall.
Included in the Knight run was their third consecutive Woodmen Life Christmas Tournament Championship that they secured with wins over North Brunswick, Whiteville and Dillon, SC.
A trio of seniors lead the Knight offense. Sayaun Dent beat West Columbus by banking in a runner at the buzzer and sent a win at Red Springs to overtime with a 3-point shot at the buzzer.
Dent averages 20 points per game, 6-8 John Bowen fires in 15.8 ppg and leads the Knights in 3-point baskets. Guard Kalvin Page was named to the Woodmen Life All-Tournament Team along with Dent after scoring 44 points in 3 tournament games. Page scores at an 8.4 rate for the season. Other starters are junior post Jonathan Robinson (5 ppg) and junior guard Jimmy Williams (4 ppg).
Coach Kenzil McCall’s Eagles dropped three games before they got their full roster from football and senior Ethan Hines has only played in 4 games due to a football injury. The Eagles dropped close games to Fairmont and Scotland in the Woodmen Tournament before claiming their only win of the season over North Brunswick 68-55.
Eian Hines averages 15.7 points per game to lead the East Bladen offense. In the Woodmen tourney, Eian posted 3 consecutive double-doubles headlined by a 24 point, 16 rebound effort against Fairmont.
Three-point bomber Denzel Johnson bombs in 14.2 ppg, and Ethan Hines has scored at a 12.5 rate in his four games. Senior Demetrius Wooten throws in 9.6 ppg, and sophmore Adonis Avery follows with a 9.3 ppg average.
In the girls game, East Bladen comes in with a 3-1 Four County mark and a 10-3 overall mark. Coach Patty Evers’ Lady Eagles have lost only to Clinton in league play and twice in three non-conference meetings with East Columbus. East Bladen has wins over Heide Trask, Pender, Midway, Cape Fear, Word of God, Fairmont, Whiteville and East Columbus.
Sophmore Ja’Tyra Moore-Peterson keys the East offense scoring 15.5 points and dishing out 4 assists per game. Senior Emily Scott leads the team on the boards with 7 rebounds per game and also contributes 7 points and 3 steals per game.
Freshman Patience Ward adds 7 points and 5 rebounds per game, and sophmore Ashley Hardin grabs 6 rebounds to go with her 4 points per game.
Coach Rick Rhoda’s Lady Knights are 3-0 in league play and 7-5 overall. West Bladen has lost twice to South Brunswick, twice to Red Springs and once to East Columbus. The Lady Knights have wins over Heide Trask, Union, Pender, Lakewood, Whiteville and two over West Columbus.
Senior Laikyn Pait tops the West Bladen offense averaging 10.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Senior Logan Autry fills up the stat sheet with 9.3 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists per game. Senior Akira Grimes adds 7 points and 6 rebounds per game.
Gametime for the girls jayvee game is 4 p.m. with jayvee boys, varsity girls and boys to follow.
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