Two players, one from each team, ejected after melee
By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Davian Edwards scored 24 points and Southeast Alamance defeated host Eastern Alamance in a fight-marred non-conference boys’ basketball game Friday night in Mebane.
An on-court melee broke out with 5:57 remaining with Southeast holding a 61-48 lead.
A scramble for a loose ball near midcourt escalated with pushing and verbal sparring after the whistle. But the action didn’t stop there as several players engaged in contact and soon there was a swarm of people on the court.
Amid the mayhem, Eastern principal Suzanne Simpson was knocked to the floor, and shortly after helped to her feet. When order was restored, game officials were deliberate in sorting out the incident. Eastern’s Jordan Matthews and Southeast’s Donnie Fairley were ejected.
Once the game resumed, school officials made arrangements to nix any postgame handshake line, so the teams were sent out of the gym after the buzzer. By then, additional uniformed personnel from the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office had arrived.
It was a rematch from Southeast’s 69-59 home victory December 11.
Bubba Sims, buoyed by a big third quarter, added 20 points for the Stallions (5-1), who won their fourth straight game. Fairley had 12 points and Cardell West posted 10 points.
Eastern (5-4), which had a two-game winning streak snapped, was led by Jav’ier Tinnin’s 26 points and Mason Murphy’s 11 points.
Southeast held a 33-28 halftime lead and started to pull away late in the third quarter, sparked by a couple of baskets from Fairley.
- Eastern Alamance was coming off Wednesday night’s 70-66 non-league victory against visiting Eden Morehead, with Tinnin scoring 16 points and Hunter Eichman adding 15.
- Williams defeated host Southern Alamance 52-49 in a Central 3-A Conference opener for both teams Friday night.
The Bulldogs fell 74-66 at Northeast Guilford last week despite Jaeden Smith’s 25 points and Colby Elliot’s 17 points.
- Western Alamance began Central 3-A Conference play with a 73-48 loss at Orange. The Warriors fell to 4-2.
Girls’ basketball
- Williams (6-1) won its sixth game in a row by opening Central 3-A Conference play by winning 54-16 at Southern Alamance with Madison Harris scoring 18 points. This came two days after the Bulldogs won 61-41 at Northeast Guilford.
- Western Alamance began its Central 3-A Conference schedule by rolling 64-35 at Orange. The Warriors (7-1) led 35-11 at halftime.
- Southeast Alamance (5-1) defeated host Eastern Alamance 60-45 behind Shaniya Paylor’s 17 points, Natalie Lopez’s 16 points and Inysia McIver’s 12 points.
Eastern (4-5) had built a three-game winning streak by defeating visiting Eden Morehead 72-22 on Wednesday.
