By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Southeast Alamance boys’ basketball coach Bo Williamson shared a brief piece of information before Friday night’s game vs. Cummings: “4 is back.”
The translation: High-scoring guard Bubba Sims, who wears jersey No. 4, would play for the first time in more than a month.
After an ankle injury, he’ll try to help the Stallions race to the season’s finish line.
“Just knowing that he’s out there,” Williamson said of the junior guard. “Check the stat sheet and that’s what he can do. The goal right now is to try to find his legs. He’s a game-changer.”
Sims is the leading basketball scorer in Southeast’s two years of existence. He also was the Defensive Player of the Year for Mid-Carolina Conference football and he’s being recruited by Division I colleges for baseball.
Sims scored 12 points off the bench in the Cummings game, then had 12 more points and 12 rebounds in Monday night’s 73-45 victory against visiting Bartlett Yancey in the Mid-Carolina Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
“Just overcoming my fear of my ankle. Toward the end of the game, I started just going instead of thinking about my ankle,” he said. “That’s when I started doing better, getting more rebounds, passing the ball better, making more layups.”
Sims went down late in the first quarter January 8 against visiting North Moore. The diagnosis was a chip fracture on his left ankle.
“I went up for a layup. I came down on somebody’s foot, just twisted it,” he said.
He missed 11 games, with the Stallions 8-3 in those outings.
“Really a mental thing,” Sims said of the layoff. “It was awful. … I meditated a lot, just trying to calm myself down. Thinking about what I could do when I come back.”
He said support from his family and work in the pool helped during the rehab. He learned earlier Friday that he would be cleared to play that night, though he hadn’t been practicing with the team. It was his first in-season injury during a school year.
He said watching so many games from the bench was enlightening.
“Not as fast as I was, but I’m smarter,” he said. “I’m not going into traffic, pulling it back out. I’ve got to think two steps ahead now.”
While he drew an offensive foul on Bartlett Yancey in the third quarter, he also went 0-for-3 on 3-point attempts during that stretch.
“It’s coming back,” he said of his shot. “I’ll make sure of it.”
In the 74-39 whipping of Cummings, Donnie Fairley, who has returned following a right thumb injury, led the Stallions with 17 points. Isaiah Long had 11 points for Cummings.
Mid-Carolina Conference Tournament
Second-seeded Southeast nipped third-seeded Chatham Central 51-49 in Tuesday night’s semifinal with Fairley scoring 16 points.
James Kenan had 10 points with late free throws and Cardell West and Sims both had eight points for the Stallions (21-5), who meet regular-season champion Northwood (24-2) in the final Friday night at home. Southeast is the predetermined host site.
Chatham Central (21-4) missed a potential winning heave from about halfcourt. The teams tied for second place in the regular season.
West, a senior, poured in a career-high 24 points against Bartlett Yancey and Drew Easter had 11 points before fouling out.
The conference tournament was adjusted because of weather-related concerns this week, with the first two rounds moved to Monday and Tuesday. Instead of all semifinals and finals at Southeast, the semifinals were played at the home of the higher seeds Tuesday.
- Cummings (8-16) lost 52-34 at Seaforth in Monday’s quarterfinal game.
Last-place Graham (2-20, 1-15) didn’t qualify for the league tournament.
Central 3-A Conference Tournament
Top-seeded Eastern Alamance topped Williams 80-61 on Tuesday at Orange in the semifinal.
That means the top-seeded Eagles (16-8) will meet second-seeded Roxboro Person, a 55-53 semifinal winner against Orange, on Friday night at Orange.
Eastern beat Orange 61-57 on Friday to earn a share of the regular-season title with Roxboro Person (24-2), which has an 11-game winning streak.
- Fifth-seeded Williams (11-15) edged host Western Alamance, the fourth seed, by 51-49 in Monday’s quarterfinal game. The Bulldogs outscored Western 14-8 in the fourth quarter. Colby Elliot’s 22 points and Jaeden Smith’s 12 points led the way.
Western (13-11) awaits a possible state-playoff bid.
- Seventh-seeded Southern Alamance’s season ended with a 70-45 loss at Orange in the Central 3-A Conference quarterfinals. The Patriots finished 4-21.
