By John Clark
RED SPRINGS – It wasn’t pretty Tuesday night. There were a lot of missed shots by both teams. But West Bladen’s Knights survived with a 33-25 Southeastern Athletic Conference boys’ basketball victory over Red Springs.
It was the 14th straight victory for the Knights who remain atop the SAC with a 5-0 record and are 16-1 overall. West Bladen will visit Clinton Friday night.
Freshman Kendell Lessane canned 2 free throws to begin the 4th quarter and put West up 27-19, but Red Devil star Kaedon Porter banked in a 3-pointer to trim the margin to 27-22 with 3:46 left.
After junior Hezekiah Adams made another free throw, junior Chase Williams rammed a dunk past a defender off a feed from sophomore Jackson Pait, then tacked on a free throw to boost the lead to 31-22 at the 2:26 mark.
Porter banked in a fade-away with 2:11 left. Adams and Porter traded free throws for a 32-25 margin with 1:31 on the clock. The Knights missed 6 of their final 7 free throws, but Adams made one for the final margin.
“It went about like I expected,” said Knight Coach Travis Pait. “Low scoring, hard game on the road. We didn’t play bad. I thought we guarded great, but we missed shots and didn’t make free throws (10 for 23).”
As a team the Knights made only 3 of 20 3-point shots and shot 25% from the field. Red Springs was 1 for 9 from 3-point range and shot 29% from the field.
“You have to be able to win ugly,” continued Coach Pait. “To play a close one was good for us. Coach Patterson (Glenn, Jr.) has a good team that has played a really tough schedule.”
Williams led the Knights with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals despite sitting out over 10 minutes due to foul trouble. Pait followed with 8 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Sophomore Tylik McCall finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds. Adams contributed 4 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals.
Porter poured in 20 of the 25 points and sparked a 10-5 Red Devil run in the 1st 5 minutes with 8 points. McCall knocked in a corner 3-ball, and Pait sank 2 free throws. Williams scored in transition off a Pait assist to trim the margin to 10-7.
Williams drained a 15-footer to start the 2nd period then added a free throw. Adams hurled in a ‘duck and dive’ 10-foot runner that edged West ahead 12-11, but Porter answered quickly for Red Springs. Pait and McCall buried 3-point shots to vault the Knights in front 18-13 at halftime.
A Pait assist resulted in a Williams jump-hook to begin the 2nd half. Another Porter bank shot narrowed the lead to 20-15, but Williams hit a free throw, and McCall stole the ball and dropped in a lay-up for a 23-15 lead. Pait muscled in a runner past a defender, but Porter beat the quarter buzzer to cut the lead to 25-19.
West Bladen 7 11 7 8 -33
Red Springs 10 3 6 6 -25
West Bladen (33) – Jackson Pait 8, Hezekiah Adams 4, Tylik McCall 8, Kendell Lessane 2, Andre Moore, Ty’Leak Ballard, Chase Williams 11.
Red Springs (25)– Darren Wilkins, Kaedon Porter 20, Justice McMillian 1, K. Brown, Curtis Wilson, Makhi Arthur 2, Jaylen Rush 2, I. Locklear, S. Murray, Timothy Hammonds, G. Porter.
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