West Bladen’s Knights, the No. 4 seed in the NCHSAA Class 2-A East Play-offs, battle No. 5 seed Fairmont tonight at 7 p.m. for the Sectional Championship and a berth in Friday night’s Eastern Regional Semi-Finals.
“We rea
lly need a big crowd tonight,” said West Bladen Coach Travis Pait. “I hope all our fans will come out.”
The two teams have split two earlier games this season. West Bladen’s formidable guard trio of Rahu Purdie, Malcolm Vaught and Stephon McDonald combined for 50 points to lead the Knights to a 75-60 in the championship game of the Woodmen of the World Christmas Tournament.
McDonald led the way in that game with 18 points, while Vaught and tournament MVP Purdie followed with 16 points each.
Fairmont claimed the second meeting 64-56 in Fairmont. Forward Alshaquan Williams pumped in 15 points, and Elijah Hinson finished with 12 points and Isaiah Inman 11 for the Tornadoes. West was within 51-48 with 3 minutes left, but a 9-0 Fairmont run sealed the verdict.
The Knights, now 22-4, turned in a suffocating defensive performance Friday night in a 70-38 romp past Southwest Onslow. Purdie, a senior, pumped in 20 points in that game and leads the Knight scoring with over 18 points per game.
Vaught, another senior, McDonald, a junior, and sophmore forward Sayaun Dent all scored 13 points in Friday’s win. McDonald and Vaught both average over 11.5 ppg. Dent contributes 8 points per game, and senior center Brandon Council adds 5 points per game.
Williams leads the Tornadoes with 15.7 points and 9 rebounds per game. Senior Shyheim Hines follows with a 13.7 ppg average and grabs 6 rebounds per game.
Sophmore Jarique Moore (9 ppg), sophmore Julius Caulder (8.5 ppg), junior Isaiah Inman (8.6 ppg) and sophmore Elijah Hinson (7.6 ppg) are other Fairmont scoring threats.
Fairmont advanced to the Sectional Final with a 75-62 victory over Clinton Monday night.
West Bladen is also prepared for another bat intrusion as four dip nets will be on hand just in case any of the flying mammals show up tonight. The dip nets are there so that the bats can be captured unharmed.
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