By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The regular season ends Saturday night for the Williams and Southeast Alamance boys’ basketball teams with first place on the line in the Mid-Carolina Conference.
Southeast absorbed its first league loss of the season Friday night when Eastern Alamance pulled out a 77-71 road upset, setting the stage for the showdown between Southeast and visiting Williams less than 24 hours later.
Tip-off for the make-up game is set for approximately 6 p.m. following a scheduled 4:30 p.m. matchup between the schools’ girls’ teams.
Third-place Eastern kept the regular-season title in play for Williams (18-3 overall, 11-2 Mid-Carolina by knocking off Southeast (18-4, 12-1), while Williams was staging a huge comeback at fourth-place Roxboro Person, winning 75-74.
Here’s how it unfolded:
Eagles soar in fourth quarter
Eastern avenged a 38-point home loss with Friday’s result, keyed in part by three 3-pointers from Xavier McPherson in the final 4½ minutes.
“This game meant a lot to us after they beat us at home,” McPherson said. “There was animosity for this game.”
McPherson’s 23 points, Hunter Eichmann’s 20 points, Mason Murphy’s 14 points, and Christian Hester’s 11 points paced the Eagles (17-5, 11-3). Davian Edwards countered with 30 points for the Stallions.
Southeast led 9-1 before Eastern made a field goal and stretched the lead to 21-10 on Donnie Fairley’s transition dunk. Edwards had 13 of Southeast’s first 19 points. Eastern was even at 23-23 by the end of the first quarter.
“I felt we were playing good basketball right from the start,” Eastern coach Parrish Walker said. “Once we calmed down because this is a hard place to play.”
Eastern led 38-37 at halftime, with Eichmann’s scoring largely keeping the Eagles in it up to that point.
It was tied at 49-49 before Eastern teammates Kamaal Smith, Murphy, and McPherson took over. McPherson’s second 3 down the stretch extended Eastern’s lead to 70-61 before three straight Southeast baskets.
McPherson then found space on the right wing for another 3.
“Once I get in the flow. . . ,” McPherson said. “The work after practice finally showed in the game.”
Walker said: “We trust Xavier. We trust him to make big shots.”
Yet the Stallions cut the gap to 73-71 before Murphy went to the foul line for two attempts with 23.7 seconds left. He missed both, but he collected the rebound and powered in for a putback.
“We talk about how important it is to be tough and that (play by Murphy) was one of those tough ones,” Walker said.
Southeast had a 10-game winning streak end.
If Southeast beats Williams, it would move Eastern to a tie for second place and the Eagles would hold the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament.
Comeback keeps Bulldogs in it
Williams trailed Roxboro Person by 51-34 at halftime and was down 21 in the third quarter.
Bubba Sims’ drive for a basket with 11 seconds left accounted for the final points. The Rockets didn’t get off another shot as Williams forced a turnover before time expired.
“A little bit more than I was hoping to deal with,” Williams coach Jimmy Lloyd said of the escape.
The Bulldogs took their first lead on Colby Elliott’s 3-pointer with 2:48 remaining before a back-and-forth stretch. Another Elliott basket with about 30 seconds left regained the lead for Williams before the Rockets went back ahead.
Elliott posted 19 first-half points and finished with 32. Sims had 20 of his 22 in the second half. Kyrian Fuller added 10 points.
Lloyd said the Rockets’ hot shooting in the first half caught the Bulldogs’ off guard.
“They could not miss,” he said. “(Our players) had to dig. I told them at halftime, if you are the team you think you are, we’re going to come out in the second half and get it back with defense.”
The margin dipped to 63-54 entering the fourth quarter.
Williams stays on track in home finale
On Thursday night, Williams beat visiting Southern Alamance 74-58 on Senior Night.
Sims scored 29 points and Elliott hit a milestone and notched 17 points as the Bulldogs prevailed.
Southern, which was minus injured starters Richard Umberger and Tustin Johnson, played a spirited first half sparked by Jasiah Allen’s offense. The Patriots exited the gym at the end of the half holding a 36-32 lead, enjoying a huge ovation from the visiting fans.
Williams went on a third-quarter roll, with Sims’ 3-pointer capping a 10-1 run that provided a 49-39 lead.
Elliott needed 15 points to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career so he achieved that.
Elliott played as a sophomore for Meadowbrook in North Chesterfield, Virginia, before moving back to Burlington and becoming a key player for the Bulldogs for two seasons. He was thrilled with the timing of the milestone.
“Really just because I got it on Senior Night,” he said.
Allen ended with 28 points, while Drayden Brewer and Garrett Ledbetter both scored 10.
Western wins under interim coach
Western secured a 56-54 overtime victory against host Southern in Friday night’s game, with the Warriors under interim coach Bo Jordan a day after the departure of coach Ryan Suttles.
Brewer’s two free throws were the final points of regulation. Western scored the last eight points of the game.
