By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Western Alamance’s James Newton rang in the new year with a 40-point outing Friday night against Eastern Alamance.
That pushed the Warriors to a 76-60 victory in the boys’ basketball team’s long-delayed home opener.
Newton, who doubles as a receiver for the high school’s football team and one of two Alamance County player who participated earlier in December in the Shrine Bowl.
In his basketball capacity, Newton shot 5-for-9 on 3-pointers and 9-for-12 on free throws in the Central 3-A Conference game. He had 14 of his points in the second quarter, giving him 20 by halftime.
His only second-half 3 came in the fourth quarter, when he tallied nine points.
Western (6-4 overall, 1-1 Central 3-A Conference) plays Thursday night at Williams in a game originally set for Friday.
Eastern’s Mason Murphy scored 10, Hunter Eichman had 15, Jordan Matthews posted 14 and Ja’vier Tinnin added 13.
- Eastern pulled out a 56-54 comeback league victory at Williams on Tuesday night, with Tinnin converting on a key drive late in the game. Tinnin finished with 18 points for the Eagles (7-6, 2-1).
Timmy Harris scored 17 points and Jaeden Smith had 11 points for Williams (5-6, 1-2), which had trouble against Eastern’s zone defense. Smith had only two first-half field goals – a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer for a 20-10 lead and a 3 for the final points of the first half for a 32-23 edge.
Williams was coming off a 60-50 home loss to Orange with Smith scoring 21 points.
- Southern Alamance (3-10, 1-2) built a three-game winning streak before a 70-47 home loss to undefeated Roxboro Person in Tuesday’s Central 3-A Conference game.
In Friday night’s 51-49 victory at Cedar Ridge, Southern’s Drayden Brewer had 12 points, Riley Warren turned in 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Kolby Kronbergs had 10 points.
- Southeast Alamance claimed a 69-48 victory Friday at Bartlett Yancey and then won 56-43 against visiting Seaforth on Tuesday in Mid-Carolina Conference games. Against Seaforth, Donnie Fairley racked up 22 points, Bubba Sims had 12, and Drew Easter added 10.
Southeast’s girls’ and boys’ games vs. Graham have been moved up from Friday night to Thursday night.
- Graham (4-7, 1-5) has hit a rough patch in the Mid-Carolina Conference with Friday’s 79-34 loss at Northwood before Tuesday’s 79-70 victory against visiting North Moore.
- Cummings (4-8, 3-3) followed Friday’s 55-38 loss at Chatham Central with Tuesday’s 63-62 home setback to first-place Northwood in the Mid-Carolina Conference.
Girls’ basketball
Aliya Trollinger scored 25 points and Makayla Scott racked up 20 points as visiting Eastern Alamance won 63-57 in Tuesday night’s Central 3-A Conference game at Williams.
The Eagles (6-8, 2-1) had an 11-point lead with less than seven minutes to play.
Madison Harris used five 3-pointers on the way to 17 points, Amira Lunsford had 12 points, and Jordyn Taylor added 11 points for Williams (7-5, 1-2), which has lost four straight.
- Western Alamance (10-2, 2-0) has back-to-back victories against Eastern, the latest coming by 79-54 in Friday night’s Central 3-A Conference home game.
- Southern Alamance (2-10, 0-3) dropped a 40-27 home decision to Roxboro Person in Tuesday’s Central 3-A Conference game after falling 37-30 on the road to Cedar Ridge on Friday.
- Southeast Alamance fell 51-48 to visiting Seaforth in Tuesday’s matchup between Mid-Carolina Conference leaders. Seaforth (11-1, 5-0) used a 14-3 fourth-quarter edge for the comeback.
Clara LaChapelle scored 14 points for the Stallions (9-2, 4-1).
- Graham (4-8, 2-4) halted a six-game losing streak by defeating visiting North Moore 29-26 on Tuesday in the Mid-Carolina Conference.
