By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Eastern Alamance’s boys’ basketball team will play in the Central 3-A Conference Tournament championship game after defeating a rival in the semifinals.
The Eagles topped third-seeded Southern Alamance 66-52 on Wednesday night at Roxboro Person.
Second-seeded Eastern (18-8) takes on regular-season champion Orange (14-11) in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Roxboro.
Orange received a first-round bye before defeating fifth-seeded Roxboro Person 65-59 on Tuesday night at Roxboro, where the league is holding all semifinals and finals.
Orange defeated host Eastern 79-74 in last Friday night’s regular-season finale despite Jayden Adams’ 23 points and Jordan Matthews’ 19 points.
Eastern won its conference tournament opener against seventh-seeded Cedar Ridge 70-51 on Monday night at home.
- Southern Alamance avenged two regular-season losses to sixth-seeded Western Alamance by winning Monday night’s tournament quarterfinal at home by 69-64.
That came just three nights after the Warriors won 46-42 on the same court to end the regular season.
Western dropped to 10-15.
- Fourth-seeded Williams failed to protect an early 12-point lead and lost 62-57 in overtime at home to Roxboro Person in Monday night’s quarterfinals, which involved end-of-regulation dramatics.
The Bulldogs led by 11 in the second half before Roxboro Person took the lead with 2:06 left. Williams trailed 50-45 before Brian Williams of the Bulldogs drilled a 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left in regulation. The Rockets made the first free throw at the 4.1-second mark, then missed the second attempt.
The Bulldogs (16-9) raced into the front court, and Cavion Stokes drained a 3-pointer from near the sideline in front of the Williams bench at the buzzer to force overtime. The Bulldogs shot 2-for-6 on free throws in the final 2:16 of the fourth quarter.
In overtime, the score was tied 55-55 before the Rockets pulled away. Brian Williams finished with 26 points, while Amarion Richmond and Sam Rhodes both had 10 points.
Williams had defeated the visiting Rockets 63-62 in Friday night’s regular-season finale to rack up a five-game winning streak. Milton Turner’s 20 points and 12 rebounds, Richmond’s 13 points, Williams’ 12 points and Rhodes’ nine points and 13 rebounds boosted the Bulldogs, who held on after a double-digit lead dwindled.
Williams stopped host River Mill 59-41 in last Thursday’s non-league game with Brian Williams scoring 18 points and Will Cooper adding 13 points, aided by three 3-pointers.
Mid-Carolina Conference
Southeast Alamance lost for the third time this season to Chatham Central, falling 70-57 in the tournament semifinals Wednesday night at Northwood.
Third-seeded Southeast (15-11) had a nine-game winning streak snapped. Chatham Central (23-3) will meet regular-season champion Northwood (23-3) in Friday night’s title game.
In the quarterfinals, Southeast posted an 85-80 home victory against Seaforth on Monday night.
- Fourth-seeded Cummings won a quarterfinal home game by running past Jordan-Matthews 72-53 on Monday night.
But Tuesday night in a semifinal, the Cavaliers fell for the third time to regular-season champion Northwood with a 64-41 road loss. Cummings is 13-10.
- Graham lost last Friday’s regular-season finale at Jordan-Matthews by 68-51, failing to reach the league tournament as the ninth-place team. The Red Devils ended the season with a 2-22 record.
