Coach Travis Pait’s West Bladen Knights travel to Clinton tonight with a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the Four County Conference.
West Bladen and Clinton are currently tied for first place in the Four County with 8-3 records. Midway and Heide Trask are right behind the leaders with 7-4 records.
The Knights (17-4 overall) started the season with a 10-game winning streak and captured the championship of their own Woodmen of the World Christmas Tournament.
However the first week in January saw the Knights’ fortunes took a different turn with losses at Heide Trask and Pender and a home loss to Clinton. Trask outshot the Knights 39-13 at the foul line to claim their win. The Pender loss was by only 4 points, and then Clinton rallied from 16 points down to edge the Knights 68-67 on Jeremiah Pope’s free throw with no time on the clock.
West Bladen rebounded with 5 straight conference wins, and the Knights have won 7 of their last 8 games with the only loss coming in a non-conference game at Fairmont.
The West Bladen offense centers around their potent back-court. Senior guard Rahu Purdie pumps in 18 points per game to lead the Knights. Senior guard Malcolm Vaught follows Purdie with an 11.5 average, and junior guard Stephon McDonald tallies 11.4 ppg.
Sophomore Sayaun Dent is a solid rebounder and contributes 8 points per game. Senior center Brandon Council adds almost 5 ppg.
Clinton (16-5) has lost twice in the conference to Midway and once at Trask. The Dark Horses lost their opening game of the season to Jack Britt and in their own Dark Horse Classic title game to Hoke County.
Pope, a 6-3 sophomore, scored 24 points in the win at West and leads the Clinton scoring with a 14.7 average. Six-three junior E. J. Howard contributes 12 points per game and leads the Dark Horses on the boards with 8 rebounds per game. Junior Jaalen Best averages 9 points per game for Clinton.
Clinton’s final 3 games are at home with West Bladen, Heide Trask and Wallace-Rose Hill. Midway which is still in contention in the race has their final 3 games at home with Trask tonight, West Bladen Tuesday and Union.
The Knights have the toughest schedule left of any of the contenders. After Clinton tonight, the Knights go to Midway Tuesday and host rival East Bladen Thursday night.
“It’s a tough stretch to have to play to win the conference,” said Coach Pait. “But you know what would be worse,” he added with a grin…”Not having to play it to win the conference.”
The Knights control their own destiny. Three wins and they claim the title, and as Coach Pait pointed out having the opportunity to play for the league championship with a week left on the schedule is what’s important.
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