By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The Southeast Alamance boys’ basketball team had to wait an extra day to secure the program’s first conference championship.
The Stallions defeated visiting Williams 83-57 on Saturday night with first place at stake in the Mid-Carolina Conference, with that result coming less than 23 hours after they sustained their only regular-season league defeat.
“I didn’t let (Friday) night bother me,” Southeast forward Donnie Fairley said. “Had to fix it.”
The Stallions (19-4 overall, 13-1 Mid-Carolina Conference), representing the third-year school, gained the outright regular-season title. If Williams (18-4, 11-3) had won, the Bulldogs would have shared first place.
Southeast’s home loss Friday night to Eastern Alamance, which finished in a second-place tie with Williams, meant the race for first place would come down to the regular-season finale between the Stallions and Bulldogs.
“I think the biggest thing is urgency,” Southeast coach Bo Williamson said. “We showed some maturity. A lot of times, it can go the other direction.”
Davian Edwards poured in 33 points for the Stallions, with teammates James Kenan with 18 and Fairley with 14.
“Too much stuff going on (Friday) night,” Edwards said of distractions. “We were too much in the moment. … We needed to get right back at it. We needed every loose ball.”
Southeast had a solid start, building a nine-point lead by late in the second quarter. The Stallions were up 48-34 through three quarters and soon built the advantage to 61-37.
Williams guard Bubba Sims, back in the gym where he played home games the two previous seasons, finished with 35 points. That total included 13 in the first half and 16 in the fourth quarter. Bulldogs standout Colby Elliott was held to five points.
There was an on-court confrontation during the postgame handshake line with players from both teams being pulled away from the fray as school administrators and security personnel rushed to break up the incident.
Eastern clouded race for first place
Southeast absorbed its first league loss of the season Friday night when Eastern pulled out a 77-71 road upset.
Eastern avenged a 38-point home loss, 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). 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 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.
Comeback kept Bulldogs in it
Williams trailed Roxboro Person by 51-34 at halftime and was down 21 in the third quarter before winning 75-74 on Friday night.
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 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 stayed steady in home finale
Last 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 for Southern were the final points of regulation. Western scored the last eight points of the game.
Other results
- Southeast’s Edwards had a career-high 38 points when the visiting Stallions won 71-62 at Western a week ago Wednesday.
- Eastern’s Eichmann had 20 points and McPherson notched 13 points when the host Eagles beat Western 74-65 last Thursday.
- Cummings secured its only regular-season conference victory by defeating visiting Graham 54-51 on Friday. The Cavaliers lost the next day, falling 40-33 at Roxboro Person.
- Western fell 68-52 at home to Roxboro Person in Monday night’s makeup game. Drew Cohn and Camden Oliviera each had 13 points for Western.
- Southern ended the regular season Monday with a 73-71 comeback victory against visiting Graham, scoring the Red Devils 25-16 in the fourth quarter.
- Clover Garden ended the Central Tar Heel 1-A Conference regular season with home losses by 80-65 to Chatham Charter on Friday and by 74-40 to Southern Wake on Tuesday.
Also in the league, River Mill lost 62-14 at Southern Wake on Friday.
